The Enemy of My Enemy
by rachyzord
Summary: Wonder Woman feels isolated and alone and finds comfort and understanding in the most unlikely place.
1. Chapter 1

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated G ] **

**C H A P T E R . O N E **

Diana flew into a droid, knocking it back with her shoulder. It hit a building and collapsed into a sparking heap. Another had snuck up behind Hawkgirl, who was trying to wrestle her mace away from the droid who had it. Diana whipped forward, grabbing the droid under it's metal arms and flew up, twirling and tossing it away. One tried to jump onto her back from a nearby building but she saw it first, catching it and snapping it's neck. Hawkgirl had finished knocking her droid away. Lantern punched another. She couldn't see Superman or Martian Manhunter. Flash was mostly goofing off between a group, though he'd managed to get two to run into each other.

"Enough!" Batman's voice came.

The simulation ended and the League unintentionally paired off. John and Shayera moved over to each other, grinning and comparing battles. J'onn and Superman began talking about something, probably mission related. Diana stood off to one side on her own as Batman came down from the viewing area.

"A little overkill, don't you think?" he growled at her.

"The goal was to finish the droids with as few casualties as possible. I accomplished that." Diana said defensively, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You need to work on fighting without relying so heavily on your powers. You didn't land one time during the entire exercise." his lenses narrowed and he breezed away from her to talk to Superman.

She didn't stay to hear anything else. The Watchtower was silent as she moved through the halls until she reached her quarters and sat down on the edge of her bed. She never knew what they wanted of her. Or what _he_ wanted of her. She had completed the exercise, no one had gotten injured, the enemy was destroyed. But he had told her that she was too violent and that it wasn't good enough the way she had done it. He hadn't critiqued anyone else. Of course she'd left before she could be sure of that but normally Superman was the last stop, not the first. _Shayera had been struggling with one droid while I finished many _she thought to herself in confusion.

_It's always been like that between us though _she sighed and lay back. She had arrived here in Man's World four years ago and it had only taken her that first mission with the Imperium, to become infatuated with him. She had been smitten with Superman as well. _What woman wouldn't be. _But it had worked out more that the two high-powered metas were friends, even before she had learned his identity and of the fiesty reporter who had his heart. Diana was happy to have a friend who she could talk to and she and Clark often went for lunch or found time to talk to each other over the years. He always knew the right thing to say. He had been the gentle prodding that she'd needed to return home. Of course it had led to the battle with Felix Faust and her banishment but she was still glad she had gone.

But Bruce. Amazons were taught to go after what they want, no surrender, no compromise, no retreat. She was admittedly new to human flirtation and other male-female interactions but she'd steadfastly pursued him for the entire four years and all she had to show for it was her lingering crush. Who apparently didn't find her worth his time.

Diana sighed and pulled herself from her bed. Now she could definitely use a friend. She moved into the Monitoring Womb, expecting to find Clark there but instead it was J'onn. "Where's Superman?" she asked.

"He returned home to Metropolis." The Martian told her.

"Oh." she said in disappointment. "In that case, I'm leaving the station. I should return in an hour or two."

J'onn nodded and she made her way to the hangar and boarded her jet, heading down to Metropolis. She landed on the roof of his apartment building and made her way to his door and knocked.

"One minute!" Lois's voice came.

"I got it!" Clark yelled and opened the door a minute later. "Diana?"

He was dressed in a tux, with a tie hanging untied around his shoulders. When she glanced around him, she could see Lois dressed equally elegantly, fixing her earrings in a hallway mirror.

"What are you doing here?"

She faltered. They were clearly off to an enjoyable evening out. That she was now interrupting. "Nothing. It can wait." she stepped back. He stared at her curiously and opened his mouth to reply but Diana turned and hurriedly left the hallway and out of the building.

She started walking, with no particular place in mind. It was cool out already but plenty of people were out enjoying the afternoon. Everywhere she looked couples were kissing, smiling, window shopping, holding hands. A rain drop hit her head and she wasn't the only one that noticed. A second later, the skies opened up and sent people scurrying into buildings and shops. She looked around and spied a small diner and went inside.

Only a few people lingered inside and she moved up, ordering a coffee and piece of cake. Pastries, one of her favorite wonders of Man's World. Sugar wasn't a huge commodity on Themyscira.

She turned to find a seat and spied a familiar bald head. Her eyes narrowed. He was sitting, reading a paper and eating. It didn't _look_ illegal but she couldn't be sure so she walked over and slipped into his booth. Someone had to keep an eye on him.

He looked up from his newspaper, the sunlight catching his bald head. "Well well well. Look who it is. If I knew you were coming, I'd have brought someone else with me."

"What are you doing here?"

"It's called lunch. Do they have lunch where you come from?"

Diana refused to let him rile her. "You don't strike me as a lunch type."

"Just because I'm not sitting in the mud smashing a rock against a log like you would have?"

She ignored it and sipped her coffee.

"I'll have you know, I come here every Thursday for the meatloaf. It's quite tasty. I'd invite you to try it, but you probably would" he said, pulling his plate closer to his chest.

"Stealing isn't the Amazon way. I have my own food. Shouldn't you be off plotting some evil deed that we'll just as soon foil you at?"

He smiled evenly at her. "I'm on my lunch break. I plot after I've eaten."

He went back to reading his newspaper and she just stared at him. "You know, it's never too late to go back."

He just stared at her. "Back to what?"

"You just received a full pardon. Why waste it? You use to be good, once upon a time."

He smirked and cut a chunk of meatloaf with his fork, spearing it. "Because good didn't pay as much."

Diana speared her cake. "I don't believe that."

"Trust me. Good makes you feel better, but sometimes evil puts food on the table."

"But look at all you've lost. I've read your file. You helped built Metropolis. You use to have legitimate business dealings. You created LexCorp from the ground up. What do you have now? That's all gone. You don't even have your good name anymore."

He chewed and shrugged. "What good is a name? People still know who I am."

Diana eyed him for a moment and decided to just show her cards. "You're never going to beat him. You couldn't do it on your own. You couldn't do it with a Kryptonite ring or shards. You've tried numerous team configurations. They've all failed and you're wasting your life. Unlike Superman, you're only getting older and less likely to succeed and you're wasting your life away on it. What good would LexCorp be if you finally beat him and decide to focus on it and die the next day?"

"Because if I beat him and die the next day, he'll live with it for the rest of eternity." He speared another piece of meatloaf. "Besides. I'm not overly concerned about Superman. He's merely a thorn in my side. In case you hadn't noticed, you haven't exactly ridded the world of me."

"You know that's not our way."

"That's good for you, because you'd be miserable failures if it was."

She ignored the comment as well, knowing it was another ploy to rile her up. Luthor knew as well as she how close he'd come. She finished her food. "Think about it. I'll be keeping my eyes on you."

"I never realized how you felt about me my dear. I do thank you for brightening up my lunch." With that, he lifted the paper back up.

Diana stood and left the cafe feeling oddly. She made her way back to the Watchtower, unsure how to feel about the encounter. It was her turn to monitor and she made her way to the womb where Batman was hunched over the monitor.

"Shift change." she told him.

He glanced over at her and then back to the monitor. "You're a few minutes early."

"Should I leave and come back?" she said in an irritated tone.

He scowled at her and stood up. "You're rather cranky for not having worked yet today."

"That time of month." she used a phrase she'd heard and gestured for him to get out of the chair.

His lens widened. "I didn't know Amazons had that." He moved out of the chair and headed for the door.

_That should keep him busy for a few hours_ she thought to herself and sat down with a sigh. Why did he always have to nitpick at her?

* * *

**Author's Notes: **This is the first time we've written such a slow-paced story. It's very character-centered (instead of action/mission centered), tons of fluff and lots of talking. Comments??


	2. Chapter 2

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated G ] **

**C H A P T E R . T W O **

A mission popped up and she messaged the League. "Some of the Injustice Gang is at it again."

The League reported to the monitoring womb. "Where are they located?" Superman asked, appearing last. She knew she'd interrupted his evening and felt guilty.

"Metropolis."

"Let's roll" John said as they headed for the Javelin.

They landed and engaged them. J'onn went after Shade, Hawkgirl after Cheetah, Superman after Grundy, Lantern after Copperhead. Star Sapphire wasn't to be found. Batman and Diana both went after Joker. Flash helped where he could.

It didn't take long for Lantern to drop Copperhead and he turned and helped Hawkgirl and they quickly beat Cheetah who had taken the defensive and was bolting around trying to avoid being maced or zapped by the Lantern ring.

Diana was losing her patience with the Joker's quips and tricks and finished him with a right hook as Batman pulled himself back up from where Diana had shoved him out of the way of a Joker bomb. The team turned their sites on Grundy.

Hawkgirl got knocked through a building and Lantern caught her before being smashed into the ground himself. J'onn morphed into a dragon and coiled around him and slipped free of his grip a few times before the giant managed to land a solid punch. Superman used the distraction to send Grundy stumbling forward. The massive hulk turned and growled, lurching forward towards Superman. Diana raced up from behind and grabbed him around the waist, performing a perfect backslam.

It stunned him for a moment but he was back on his feet and she took the defensive, weaving and leaping back to avoid his massive fists.

Batman came from behind and whipped a batarang around the giant's legs, pulling back and causing him to lose his balance. Her reached out, grabbing Diana as he fell and landed hard on top of her. Superman leapt forward, picking Grundy up and punching him hard. The giant flew through the air and crashed through a building.

The League huddled quickly. "How do we beat this thing?" Flash asked breathlessly.

Diana was out cold from the half-ton weight of the undead falling on her. Superman grabbed the lasso off her hip and tossed it to Flash "With this. It'll keep him trapped long enough to get him back in prison."

Flash nodded and bolted forward as Grundy emerged from the building. He sped toward the giant and began running in circles, whirling the lasso around his massive shoulders. Grundy struggled mightily, but he couldn't break the bonds.

"Even you can't break that Grundy. You're going back to jail." Superman told him and then moved back to Diana, scooping her up.

The giant struggled again and then collapsed on the ground when he realized he wasn't going to free himself. Batman and John moved over to him. Batman wound another line around his legs and John encased him in the beam of his ring, taking off toward the prison. The rest of the team moved back to the Javelin and returned to the Watchtower.

J'onn phased to the medical lab and began looking over their injuries. Clark brought Diana over to the bed and set her down gently. "How is she?"

J'onn looked her over quickly. "She will make a full recovery soon. She was merely knocked unconscious from the force of Solomon falling on her."

Diana woke a few minutes later and groaned. She had a bit of a headache but it would fade soon. She recognized the infirmary and sat up. "How long have I been out?"

J'onn moved closer to her. "About fifteen minutes."

Her hand moved to her hip and frowned when she saw that her lasso was gone.

"Your lasso was used to subdue Solomon. John will return it when he stows him in prison."

"Thank you." she nodded and slipped off the medical bed and moved back towards the monitoring room, unhappy to see that Batman was covering the end of her monitoring shift. "I'm fine to take over my duties now."

He turned and looked at her. "I'm amazed you recovered so quickly from that."

"Apparently I'm tougher than you think."

"I'm glad you take such offense to everything I say" he said darkly, standing up and moving toward the door.

Diana just ignored him and sat in the vacated chair again. _How can I not? _she growled inside her mind. Everything he said to her was a negative critique of her performance or duties. Or in some way insinuated wrongdoing on her part, or worse, incompetence. It didn't matter if he was Batman or Bruce, they seemed to come equally frequently from both. Batman criticized her for being too violent, as though he seemed to forget who and what she was. He criticized her for being early for shifts, recovering too fast, using too many of her powers. Bruce criticized her for wanting a relationship and being immortal, as if she could help or change that fact. Just once she wished he could say something pleasant or just not say anything at all.

She was glad when her shift ended without interruption and she could return to her quarters. All she'd done was brood over Bruce's comments and general indifference to her and vaguely over the odd meeting with Luthor in the cafe. Now she felt tense, unable to sleep and irritated.

The simulation room was empty and she moved up to the control and viewing area and sat down at the computer. Training had been a constant at home since she was a child. But none of the practice droids or pre-loaded simulations gave her enough challenge. Most were designed by Batman with non-metas in mind. She found those simulations slow, boring and had beaten them time and time again. There was no satisfaction or release in doing so. Some of the League designed their own, but she'd never felt a strong enough desire until now.

She worked on her simulation for an hour, until Superman paged the League for the morning meeting. She was glad when Batman remained indifferent to her presence, save for questioning her and J'onn on her health after being knocked unconscious.

When it was over, she returned to her quarters and gave a thanks to Morpheus when she finally felt the coils of sleep washing over her.

When she woke a few hours later, she felt slightly better and decided a quick workout might help the remains of stress and frustration she felt. The simulation room was empty again and she gave a few quick orders to the computer, loading up a high-level training routine.

Clark happened by the simulation room and saw it occupied. He went to the control room and looked down to see her. He grabbed the mic. "Diana?"

"Yes Kal?" Diana grunted as she finished off another training bot without pausing.

"Is everything alright? I've never seen you load this high a level of training."

"Just working off some steam." she tossed another bot away and glared at them. "Want to come down?" she knew he wouldn't. He never sparred for fun. Pity. Even these bots weren't giving her a good enough workout.

"I don't think that's a good idea. I'll meet you in the cafeteria though."

"If you see Batman, send him in."

His eyes narrowed at her. "I'll tell him if I see him. Meet me in the cafeteria when you're done."

She nodded and turned back to her program.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated G ] **

**C H A P T E R . T H R E E **

_I wonder what Bruce did to provoke this_ he thought as he headed toward the cafeteria. He passed Bruce on the way. "Diana wants to see you in the training room" Clark told him.

Bruce walked by and pushed the door to the simulation room open as she dispatched another training bot. Diana turned and looked at him, waiting to see his move.

"Clark told me that you wanted to see me."

"I want to spar."

"So you called for me instead of Clark?"

"You know he doesn't spar. Is that a yes or a no?"

He glared a little. "I don't know what your problem is, but you're putting your anger on me. I want to know why."

"Maybe you are my problem." she stood with her hands on her hips.

"I've gathered that already" he said smoothly. "Why?"

She glared "You're the detective. Figure it out."

He just shook his head. "And you want me to help you relieve your tension when you're treating me this way?"

"You're one to complain."

"You obviously have a problem with me. I'm not sure what or why, but if sparring will help you to not give me the cold shoulder every time you see me, fine." He assumed a defensive stance.

She dropped down into her own stance and advanced, using her long legs to deliver a hard blow to his midsection. "Isn't this how you wanted it? Cold? No feelings? Just teammates?"

He moved back at the suddenness of her attack, resuming his stoic stance. "Is that what this is about?"

Diana scowled at him again and whipped out a fist towards him. He deflected it easily and moved off to the side of her, shoving her shoulder and pushing her off balance. She rolled with it and came to her feet

"Yes." She leapt over his head and punched him in his lower back, sending him rolling.

He winced as the blow hit and he rolled back to his feet. "I don't know what you want from me Diana" he said, shooting out his leg and catching her behind her knees.

She dropped to her knees for a second with a grunt but quickly rose back to her feet and grabbed the scruff of his shirt and pulled him close, kissing him deeply. "You know what I want. You just won't give it to me."

He felt his eyes widen as she kissed him as he was unsure of how to respond. He just let her kiss him. "Diana... it's complicated."

Her anger flared like gasoline and a match as he started into the routine she'd heard from him too many times. Whenever she thought she'd gotten close to his human side. She forced back the tears and pain and scowled. "Save it. I've heard it all. I'm tired of your games." she spun and tossed him away, stalking out of the training room and towards the cafeteria to find Clark. When she saw his table, she sat down.

Batman lay on the floor of the simulation room, wondering exactly what had just happened.

Clark looked up as Diana sat down. "Did Bruce make it in?"

"Yes. Last time I saw him he was having a time out. Why did you want me to meet you?"

Clark raised his eyebrow then shook it off. "I wanted to talk to you. You've been distracted lately it seems and I want to know what's going on."

"Ask Bruce."

"No. I'm not playing these games. I'm asking you."

"And I'm choosing not to reply right now Kal. My personal life is private. You don't ask Bruce why he's cranky all the time. I'm allowed to have a bad day." she stood.

"He has bad days, but we expect it from him. I'm worried about you."

She sighed, feeling suddenly tired. "I'm fine Kal. Really. If there's nothing else, I'm going back to my quarters."

Clark simply nodded and stood up himself, racking his tray and exiting the cafeteria. He met Batman in the halls, heading towards the cafeteria. "We need to talk."

Bruce looked at him. "I'm not the one you should be talking to."

"She said the same thing." Clark sighed, rolling his eyes inwardly at how similar they could be. "That's why we need to talk. I don't know what's going on between you two but you need to settle it. We can't work when you two are at each other's throats like this. Can't you two talk and work it out?"

"Oh we had a 'talk' in the simulation room. It ended with me on the ground."

Clark sighed. "I don't know what else to do."

"I won't do anything to upset her."

He nodded and walked off to contemplate a solution to this situation. He had no idea what was going on with his friend. She had clearly wanted to talk to him the other afternoon when she'd surprised him at his apartment, but run off before they could. He checked the logs from the simulation room. She'd been working on her own but otherwise, only run a few of the toughest simulations in the past month. Nothing out of the ordinary for her, he knew she valued training. She'd seemed distracted during their mission against the Injustice Society. It was rare she allowed things to fall in her. Her reflexes were nearly as good as his. Still, she'd defeated the Joker and helped with Grundy and her lasso had proved invaluable again. Ropes and even Bruce's cables wouldn't have held Grundy.

He knew there was a lot of tension between her and Bruce but he wasn't quite sure why since neither were talking. Bruce was quick to glare and leave whenever the subject of his personal life was brought up. And he caught enough footage of his off-duty activities with various beautiful Hollywood and Gotham celebrities. Diana was only slightly more forthcoming. He could tell that she had some sort of feelings for Bruce but he couldn't tell how much. Whatever was going on between them now, they'd have to work it out for themselves. He just hoped Bruce didn't end up getting killed in the process.

Bruce stalked through the halls and found himself in front of Diana's door. He sighed and knocked.

"Who is it?" came her weary reply.

He swallowed hard. "It's Bruce."

Diana sighed and pulled herself up from her bed and opened the door. "Yes?"

He looked at her. "I think we need to talk. No sparring. Just talk."

"We tried that. Many times."

"I think we should try again."

What's one more ride on the horse? Or in this case, beating the dead one. She stepped aside to let him in.

He moved in and sat down in the chair by her desk. "We've got some things we need to get out in the open so we can start clearing the air."

She leaned against the closed door. "Ok."

He looked over at her, wondering where to begin. "I know that I haven't been the easiest person to be around and I'm not trying to brush it off . I just want to know where we stand. What happened in the simulation room took me by surprise."

"We're teammates, nothing more. You know how I feel, how I've felt for almost four years now. You'll flirt with me in your other ego and just as quickly shut me down. I'm tired of it. I deserve more."

"You're acting like it's easy to be together Diana. It's hard enough with a normal colleague, let alone something like this."

Her voice was quieter now as her anger diffused. "It is easy Bruce. You're making it hard."

"Life and our situations are making it hard. What happens if we're together and something happens to one of us?"

"The same thing that happens to any other couple. You act like we have a monopoly on grieving or loss. How many average people do we see die in a week? Far more than our team has ever lost. But their girlfriends and husbands and spouses continue on." She felt numb. Too tired to care anymore. Heard the excuses too much. "Just go Bruce. I get it, you don't think I'm good enough. It's ok. But please don't patronize me with excuses. It's late and I'm tired."

He stood, knowing better than to argue with her. "I'm not making excuses Diana."

"Keep telling yourself that."

He simply shook his head and exited the room, moving down the halls.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated G ] **

**C H A P T E R . F O U R **

The next couple days were constant effort for her to stay away from both Clark and Bruce. There were only so many places she could go on board the Watchtower and both were fairly immune to her attempts to hide. Bruce had built the station and knew every nook and cranny she might've tried to hide in and Clark had X-Ray vision. Aside from eating and meetings, she spent the time in her room reading or staring out at space, thinking of home.

Thursday morning finally rolled around and she felt a bit better. It was her first day off in a long while. She'd even pulled double monitoring duty so John and Shayera could have some time together and then covered one of the morning meetings so Clark could attend some sort of important event with Lois. She'd made sure to fill out the monitoring reports perfectly, lest bring down the wrath of the anal retentive creator. Not that she feared his mood swings, she just didn't want to deal with him again right now. He'd either pretend nothing had happened between them and lectured her when she stayed in touch with reality, or harped on his excuses and why he was right and she wrong.

She made her way to Metropolis and found herself back at the cafe. She wasn't sure if Luthor would even show now that he knew she was here, but she felt obligated to keep an eye on him and it gave her something to do. And if she admitted it to herself, their last conversation had been one of the most pleasant she'd had in a while. It reminded her a bit of how she and Bruce use to be.

This time she ordered a danish and tea from the young male cashier who stumbled and dropped her change with shaky hands. She wasn't wearing her uniform so she wasn't sure if he recognized her or was just having one of those moments that strange men seemed to have a lot around her. She moved back to the booth they'd had before and sat. She grabbed a newspaper and began reading the headlines, some which involved the Justice League.

Her head raised as she heard the waitress. "Good afternoon Mr. Luthor."

"Good afternoon Samantha. How are you today?"

"Just fine thank you. Your usual this afternoon?"

"In a way. Meatloaf, yes, but I think I want french fries with gravy on them instead of mashed potatoes today."

She sat quietly, waiting for him to notice her in his booth. He probably sat in the same place each time.

He moved over and stood there. "Is this going to be a weekly thing now?"

She snorted and folded the paper, shoving it to his side of the booth. "Maybe."

He looked down at her and slid into the booth. "I suppose I shouldn't have told you about me coming every Thursday."

She sighed and stood up, grabbing her plate and moving to an empty booth, not in the mood for rejections from him too. He sat down in his booth and lifted his paper, busying himself with reading the headlines while he waited for his food. Diana ate hers quietly, staring out the window at the sunny day and thinking about her homeland and how warm the waters would be at this time of year.

"You know, you make a lousy spy" came the voice from the booth.

She looked up evenly "I'll add it to my list of failures."

He shook his head. "Like you're the only one with a list of failures."

"Want to compare?" she scowled a little, feeling yet more annoyance and irritation piled on to the massive amount from dealing with Kal and Bruce over the past few days. _Or years in a certain person's case_. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

"Not over the gap. If you want to talk, sit down like a civilized human being."

She debated for a moment and moved back to his booth with her tea. "Whatever happened to hitting logs with sticks?"

"Evolution my dear. It happens over time."

"At least it's an answer I haven't heard before." she sighed.

"I pride myself on giving the least expected response."

"Indeed. Offensive but unique. At least you rose above the stereotype. Congratulation."

He bowed his head. "And you're breaking out of yours."

"Not as much as I'd like to break other things." she mumbled under her breath.

A smirk appeared on his lips. "Oh now please do tell."

She flushed slightly when she realized that he'd heard. "I...highly doubt you're interested in hearing about my problems."

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't have invited you to my table."

"It was actually _my_ table as I was here first." she pointed out and leaned back. "Since you asked....I'm having relationship woes."

"Technically my table as I've frequented this establishment longer, but I digress. You're having relationship woes? The most famous metahuman in the universe?"

"I thought Superman had that title." she sipped her tea and shrugged. "I don't belong here."

"But you've made a name for yourself in very quick fashion."

"What good is a name?" she smirked a little.

He smirked back. "Now where have I heard that before?"

"Somewhere along the way, I'm sure. I've been here for four years now. I have a name, for what little good it does me. For most part, I'm a prisoner on the Watchtower and here. All I've succeeded in doing is thwarting a few crimes. And you. The scales aren't exactly even."

He moved back as his food arrived. "Then why don't you just go home if things are so bad here?"

She stared out the window and sighed "I can't. I was banished."

"Well that would put a damper on any return plans now wouldn't it."

"Just a little."

He grabbed a fry and sopped up some gravy with it. "So which of the Justice League members is it?"

Her lips quirked into a smile "Now that would be telling."

"I thought that's what we were doing."

He had a point but she just shrugged. "It doesn't even matter. He's made it clear he's not interested."

"He obviously has no idea what he's doing."

"I'm sure he thinks the same of me." _In fact, I know he thinks that. He tells me every opportunity he has. _

He shook his head. "Silly males. We often do not know what we do."

She was surprised to find herself laughing. "At least you admit it. Still, I find you an intriguing species for all your flaws."

"We do have our moments." He speared a piece of meatloaf. "Would you care to try some?"

Her brow arched and she leaned forward and tasted it. "Delicious. Thank you."

"And now you see why I come here every Thursday. I found it by accident one afternoon when I was walking around."

She smiled a little, wondering why she was telling him all of this. "I don't spend much time down here unless I'm on a mission."

"A pity. For as many as our flaws are, we are an interesting place. You should spend more time down here. There's plenty to do."

"That's difficult when you're-" she couldn't finish her statement before her communicator blared "Batman to Wonder Woman, where are you? We're doing research and we could use another set of eyes."


	5. Chapter 5

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated G ] **

**C H A P T E R . F I V E**

She scowled and turned away in the booth "I'm....having lunch."

Luthor smirked wider. "Would that be the man in question?"

Diana grimaced slightly and continued in a harsh tone "Do your own research, it's what you're good at. It's my day off and I intend to spend it off."

Luthor speared another forkful of food. "Please don't let me keep you if you have plans."

She hung up before Batman could answer and shook her head "No. It's not important."

"Very well." He motioned for the waitress to come over. "You should order something. I feel the fool eating by myself."

She ordered a piece of pie. _Why not drown sorrows in sugar and butter?_ "I'm sorry about that." she said. "As I was saying, it's hard to spend time down here when you're on call." _Like that._

"It's no easier being a businessman. I swear, the building would fall down if I didn't answer my phone."

"I imagine not. You must be very good at it. Metropolis is quite the wonder now, thanks largely to your efforts."

He nodded slowly. "Metropolis is my home. I want it to be the best possible place to live."

She nodded, recalling various details from the files. "You were born and raised here."

"For the most part. I spent quite a bit of time in my younger years in Kansas."

"In Smallville." she mused, then saw his look of mixed amusement and perhaps irritation "Sorry. Files."

He nodded. "Yes. Smallville. I do often wonder what happened to the people there, although I know for a fact one of my acquaintances lives here in Metropolis."

"Indeed." she gave him a knowing look.

"But through all that, Metropolis is my home. I was born here and I will die here. But before I do, I want it to rise to prominence as I did."

She nodded again and worked at her pie slowly.

"Now that I've told you something, it's your turn. I know that you won't divulge your failed Romeo, but quid pro quo."

"Upping the stakes? Seems fair. What do you want to know?"

"Surprise me."

She thought for a moment. "When I was sitting by myself, I was thinking of home. In the summer months, the waters become very warm and the fish return. I use to swim..." she trailed off.

"An island nation?" He asked curiously. When she nodded he stated "I thought so. There is no country with a coast that is known to people that has anyone even remotely like you amongst their population. That only leaves uncharted islands."

"There is no one like me, even amongst my people." she assured him.

"Now that doesn't surprise me."

"No? Why's that?"

"Even amongst known metas, you're quite unique."

She rarely considered herself in the context of competition with other metas. "I suppose so."

"You're the only one who can rival our dear Superman in abilities. I would say that puts you in a class by yourself."

"Yet again." she smiled wryly.

He nodded slightly. "So you are truly one of a kind I would surmise."

"It seems to be a requirement for joining the League."

"Indeed." He finished the rest of his meal. "And yet, you're sitting here instead of being with people similar to you."

"We're not as similar as you might think." In a way, but somehow she still felt like an outsider, even among the other orphans. Clark was the last of his people, but he still had his family in Smallville. Bruce was an orphan but he still had Alfred and the rest of the Batclan. Shayera and John had each other and John had friends. Flash had friends. Even J'onn spent more time off the station than she did.

"In your differences, you do find similarities though."

She inclined her head "Enough to work as a team. Perhaps even to consider them friends of a sort. That's where it ends."

He smirked. "Apparently, what with your relationship woes and that rather terse communication earlier."

"That was..." she grimaced and flushed "He had it coming."

"I'm not going to easily find out who he is am I?"

"No. Quid pro quo. We ran into some of your friends yesterday. I don't suppose you had anything to do with it?"

His eyes narrowed. "I read the news. I have no idea what they were up to."

"Ok. I don't have my lasso with me so I'll have to take your word."

He pushed his plate away from him. "It's nice that you have to bring that into this."

"I am who I am. Your question."

"I have no more. There's nothing left to say since you're treating me as a suspect."

She sighed "I'm sorry. I promise not to ask anymore 'official' questions." _Did I really just apologize to Luthor? I must be lonely..._

He eyed her. "I don't understand why I'm always the aggressor no matter what happens. Yes, I have my hand in many things in the underworld, but not everything."

"I believe you."

"Now that is a surprise. Alright, I have a question. Why do you believe me?"

She stared at him and said coolly "They were too disorganized for you to be involved."

"They're always disorganized, especially when you throw that monster in the mix."

"That's true to a point but you provide some cohesion. This was a mess. Grundy was the only one who proved to be any kind of issue." She shrugged. "My turn then. You were researching Themsycira?"

"Yes, I was researching it."

"Why?"

"Professional curiosity."

"You aren't going to get a better chance." she refilled her tea.

"True. You're the unique one on your island, but who are the rest of the inhabitants?"

"My sisters. Other Amazons."

"Amazons" he mused. "You say sisters... what about males?"

"None. That's forbidden."

"Interesting" he said. "No males at all?"

"Not human ones. The male Gods make appearances sometimes."

His eyes narrowed. "Gods?"

"Ares, Hades, Apollo, Zeus..."

He nodded slowly. "So you're Greek. But if there are no men, how are there still Amazons?"

It surprised her a little how little he knew about her. The knowledge wasn't necessarily public but it wasn't that hard to get either. "Yes. We're immortal, so we have no need for procreation."

"Fascinating." His eyes narrowed further. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Isn't that what we're doing?" she took a large sip of her tea. "Why not? This isn't hidden knowledge and I have no reason to hide who I am."

He nodded slowly. "You'll forgive me. But as much as you are wary of me, I must say the feeling is mutual."

"If I'd wanted to injure or kill you, I could have done it very easily any moment I wished."

"I realize that. But that's not what I mean. It's not every day that one of the Justice League simply joins me for lunch."

"I suppose so. But you've been polite to me and I've enjoyed our conversation. It would be rude of me to lie."

"It may surprise you, but I've enjoyed this as well."

"Then shall we continue or have I baffled you enough for one afternoon?" she smiled.

"No please, continue."


	6. Chapter 6

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG for violence ] **

**C H A P T E R . S I X **

She nodded. "It was quite the shock to come to Man's..this world..and find that our Gods were nothing more than myth and textbook fodder for you."

"We are a society more focused on the tangibles than ideas of faith."

"They're ideas to you. They're real to me."

"I don't doubt it. But some people here don't believe things until they see them with their own eyes."

"Perhaps why they don't come here. Well, except for Ares."

"Ares has been here?"

"You believe men are naturally that destructive?" she smiled.

"I do. We're a hateful species."

"I don't. Ares has had his hand here for a long time, when he's not bothering us."

"Perhaps that's why men are so hateful."

She nodded. "My turn. Why do you want immortality so bad?"

"To see my life's work come to fruition."

"You could accomplish it faster if you focused on those goals instead of on Superman. Immortality isn't as great as it seems."

"The grass is always greener on the other side I suppose."

"I'd give it up if I could. Unfortunately my only option has been up, not down."

"I doubt you'd give it up if you lived in a life where fear consumed you. Where your time could come at any minute through any reason."

"Is that so different than how we live now? There's always someone better. I just get to live until someone finally manages to kill me, which laws of inevitability say will happen sooner or later."

"But you don't find it empowering to know that someone or something has to take your life? That you won't get sick or grow old?" he asked curiously.

"I would prefer to deal with colds than to linger while all that I care about grows old, withers and dies and I remain the same. I might live for thousands of years yet. My friends won't and I'm not allowed to return to my family."

"I think in this one, we agree to disagree."

"I think so. I should return to the station. Shall I meet you here again next Thursday to continue our conversation? You can formulate a list of questions and I'm sure I'll have enough of my own."

"I'll be here" he said with a nod.

She nodded as well and left, teleporting back to the Watchtower. The figure in black stormed into the monitoring womb. "At lunch?"

"Yes. Lunch. During the day. When most people go out." she sighed.

"And who were you at lunch with?"

She rolled her eyes. "None of your business."

"What if it would've been an emergency?"

"But it wasn't, so back _off_. I'm not some autonotom that waits at your beck and call here."

"Fine. Forget I even brought it up."

She just brushed past him on the way to her quarters, wishing she had enough money to move off the station like some of the others did.

He stared after her. _What the hell is going on with her? Who was she with that she shut off her com for?_

She entered her room and changed, opting for a quick workout in the training room. She loaded the simulation she had created earlier. It wasn't finished but there was enough there to run for now. An hour later she closed the simulation, broken and bleeding but felt the tensioned eased somewhat finally. She dropped to her knees and collapsed on the mat, falling into a mix of unconsciousness and sleep. She awoke several hours later to the feeling of someone over her. She lashed out blindly but her fist hit nothing but air.

"I saw the simulation room was occupied, and I wanted to make sure everything was alright" came the level voice of the martian as he phased back into the simulation room in front of her.

"Sorry J'onn, I must've fallen asleep." she pulled herself to her feet. "I'm done with the room now."

"I did not need the room. I just was making sure you were alright."

She nodded "I'm alright. Just needed a good workout."

He nodded back and stared at her. "I am here if you would like to discuss anything."

"No. I just need some rest." she gave him a nod and exited, moving up a level to the rooms and to her quarters where she slumped on the bed and went back to sleep.

* * *

From his office in Metropolis, Luthor paced back and forth behind his desk. Why had Wonder Woman joined him for lunch two weeks in a row, and why had she taken such a keen interest in him. Was she collecting information for an assault? He wasn't sure.

He'd always wished she'd met him before the Justice League. With her powers, they would have made a formidable team. She was someone who might have even been his equal. Not like the idiotic underling mercenaries he could buy temporarily. He'd found her company to be enjoyable which only served to prove that point in his mind. She wasn't pretentious or haughty, but open, logical and even friendly. And he wasn't entirely blind to her beauty either, especially out of her usual armor which somehow made her seem more human.

_Beauty and brains_. Something he'd lacked in his female companionship for so long.

* * *

Diana was asleep for only two hours before the alarms on the Watchtower sounded, tearing her from a less-than-puritan dream she'd been having about a certain Metropolis businessman. She wasn't sure why Morpheus and Aphrodite were conspiring to give her such a dream but it wasn't altogether unpleasant.

Her wounds from the training room were healed and she made her way to the Monitoring Womb. J'onn had already picked a team to go, which didn't include her so she turned around and headed back towards her quarters, then made a quick stop and decided on the simulation room instead. Her program only needed a few final touches before it was complete.

A half hour later, it was finished and she inspected her fully functional replicas of the Justice Lords Batman and Superman. Right now the ephigies were frozen and she moved down and circled around them. She'd programmed them to be just as ruthless as their real-life counterparts, even down to a speech subroutine that would allow them to talk.

For a first trial, she loaded the Lords Batman, turning the safeties off and locking the door.

Her victory came, eventually and she sat in the dark of the empty simulation room, panting hard. It still wasn't enough. She was still winning and walking out of the room. "Computer, load program Artemis243." she watched as the Lords Superman appeared and forced herself to her feet. "Begin."

* * *

Bruce looked at the computer from the monitoring womb. He saw Diana load her program and was shocked when his doppleganger from the Justice Lords appeared in front of him. He was then enraged and saddened when she saw her attack it. He flicked off the monitor. _As soon as this shift ends, they won't see me until my next shift_ he said to himself.

* * *

Diana lay on the mat gasping, wincing as each breath brought her attention to her broken ribs. The computer rattled off her injuries and she wished it understood human lingo so she could tell it to shut up. The Lords Superman was a step up. She lay for a few moments longer, testing out her extremities. When she figured she had enough facilities to make it to her room, she forced herself up and limped to the door with a feeling of satisfaction.


	7. Chapter 7

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG for adult situations] **

**C H A P T E R . S EV E N **

The three League members sat around the table looking grim.

"I too am concerned about Diana." J'onn said.

"Her behavior lately has been out of character to say the least." Superman nodded. "I've tried talking with her but it doesn't work."

"So have I." Batman said evenly.

"I sense great sadness within her though she hides it well." the Martian added.

Superman and Batman looked over at him.

"She still performs her duties fine...I can't even come up with an example where her behavior's had a negative effect there...but I still think we should keep an eye on her and talk to her about this."

With that, Superman stood and used the computer to locate her. _Simulation room again? _He moved down to the lower levels and up into the viewing area and froze when he saw her grappling with his Lord's doppleganger.

Diana traded blows with the Lord's Superman, launching herself into the air. Just as her first would have connected with him, he disappeared and the grey walls of the simulation room appeared.

"Diana. Conference room. Now" came Clark's voice.

"I'm in the middle of a training program." she communicated back.

"Not anymore you aren't" he said, disabling the computer.

She scowled and moved into the conference room. "That was uncalled for."

"No, your attitude is uncalled for. Bruce has barely been on the Watchtower since his shift ended two days ago."

"And?"

Clark drew his brows together. "He's a valued member of the team and you haven't tried anything to work it out with him."

"I tried for four years to work it out with him. If you have a problem, take it up with him. Being gone for two days isn't a rare occurrence for him. If he's not bad in another two weeks, then we'll get anxious."

That was true. "He doesn't even respond to his communicator. And, on a personal note, I have to say that I'm not a fan of your latest computer program."

"Again, that's not odd for him. Batman is an adult, he can make his own decisions for which I'm not responsible." she refused to even use his name anymore. "I'm sorry that you don't enjoy my program, but I do." That was also true.

He sighed heavily and looked down at the table for a moment, and then back up at her. "Diana, you've lost your focus."

"I perform as well as any on missions, as I'm required to do. What I do in my free time is my business, is it not?"

She did but it still wasn't the point. "It is, but to be in constant battle with effigies of League members?"

"We all need outlets. This is mine."

"By attacking people that are your friends?"

"The Justice Lords aren't friends."

Her logic was beginning to irritate them. "Then why did you choose the two you did?"

"They're the largest challenges to me."

"Be that as it may, I don't like it. You're attacking Bruce and I, in no uncertain terms."

"Are you restricting my simulation privileges?"

"I don't want to, but you're giving me no choice."

She stood stiffly and stared at him.

"Until further notice, consider yourself on temporary leave" he said. "You need to get your head straight."

With a nod, she turned and made her way back to her quarters. She could feel the tears prickling her eyes and shoved them back down. She hadn't cried in her entire life and she wouldn't start now. She couldn't believe that he was taking away her one outlet she'd managed to carve for herself. The one place where she felt some iota of freedom and peace and being herself and just...letting go. And now it was gone. Along with all those hours she had worked on that program, which would doubtless be deleted.

She'd never felt so miserable in her life. Now she really did feel like a prisoner. She lay down on her bed and tossed and turned, finally falling asleep just as the morning meeting was being called.

Diana woke and showered, dressing casually again and teleporting off while the rest of the League was involved with the meeting. Why should she bother attending? She was suspended? Besides, she had lunch to go. The thought gave her a small smile. She made it to the cafe a little late.

Luthor put the paper down. "And I thought you weren't going to show up."

"Sorry, running late. Long night."

He nodded and motioned to the seat across from him. "And here I thought you had gotten the information you wanted from me."

"That's not what I'm after." she slipped into the booth, removing her sunglasses.

"Oh? And what exactly are you after?"

She'd contemplated that very question enough times, when she wasn't busy fighting with both the real and fake Bruce. Or Clark. "I...don't honestly know. I found you by accident the first time and wanted to make sure you weren't doing anything illegal. Then we started talking and I found that I...enjoy your company."

His eyes widened. "Now that is a surprise."

"Why? You're polite, intelligent, you don't treat me like most of the men of this world."

"But I'm on the other side as it were."

"And it seems you're the closest thing I have to a friend at the moment anyway." she sighed.

"In our differences, we find similarities."

"Where have I heard that before?" she ordered a decaf coffee. Caffeine was about the last thing she needed right now. She was already tense enough as it was. "So, have you compiled a list of questions?"

He nodded and pulled out a notecard.

"You can go first, since I was late."

They began a questioning period, with Luthor mostly asking about her history. Why and when she came, how she was created, about her powers. Diana asked a few personal questions, touching on his marriages and Lena Luthor where the files had been incomplete.

She saw the body language and felt a bit guilty "You don't have to answer."

"No no, you asked." He moved his food around on his plate. "She is... was, my daughter."

"Oh..." Diana didn't know what to say "I'm sorry. I didn't know you had a child."

He nodded. "Yes. She was taken by Brainiac."

She nodded. Children had always been a soft spot for her. None existed on Themyscira and it had been one of the first things she'd noticed coming here.

"It was a dark period in my life."

"I...wouldn't really know." Diana said. She hadn't even had sex, let alone a child. Never even considered having one.

They continued on as she probed about his daily life and the choices he'd made in life, fascinated with his 'fall from grace' as Metropolis's leading man. Luthor was interested in learning as much as he could about her powers, where they came from, why and seemed even amused when she discussed battles she'd had with Superman. They moved on and she sheepishly admitted that she had been temporarily suspended which caused his brows to arch intently.

"Your qualms are obviously with those that you're battling in your simulation. So instead of working it out with them, you destroy likenesses of them." he said.

"You sound like them." she scowled. "You should know that there are some things that simply cannot be worked out. If they could, you wouldn't have devoted years of your life to defeating Superman. So yes, one I picked one because if I don't, I might break the real one and that _would_ be an issue. The other, because I am truly tired of wasting my time on practice routines I could have beaten as a child."

"You are quite stubborn aren't you."

"That one's all mine." she smiled.

"You don't take into account any other people's emotions. We're not a race of warriors."

"That I've found out." she nodded.

"And you don't see how your destroying likenesses of your teammates could be hurtful to them."

"I haven't been offended when they've used mine for worse." It was true. She'd caught Flash's program by accident one time, surprised to find her bikini-clad self act far more flirtatious and sexual than she ever had. It had been a surprise to say the least but she'd also been flattered to know that he found her attractive enough to create such a simulation, so she'd simply loaded her proper program and went about her day, never mentioning it to anyone. She wondered if any of the other League men had similar scenarios.

He sighed. "We're going in circles. You deflect my comments by comparing it to them. You don't want to answer me and I have to say that it's getting a bit frustrating."

Her brows arched. "Ok. Then ask me a more simple question."

"You don't see why they get upset by your actions? A simple question that requires a simple answer. Yes or no."

"No."

"And I say that you're thinking as an Amazon. Not seeing them for who they are."

"I am an Amazon."

"I know. Hence my comment. But your teammates aren't."

"It's difficult for me to be something I'm not. It feels like me telling you to think like a woman. I am an Amazon and thus, how can I not think as one?"

"I'm not telling you to not think like an Amazon. I'm telling you to understand the world around you. Realize that people aren't as tough and thick-skinned as you and your sisters are."

She was silent for a long moment "You've given me some things to think about. Shall we meet again next week?"

"I'm always here if you care to join."

She nodded "Thank you." and left.

This time she made her way back to the Watchtower and then teleported into the Batcave.

He turned around. "What are you doing here?"

_The direct approach_. she clenched her fists and stepped off the platform. "I want us to have sex."


	8. Chapter 8

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG for violence ] **

**C H A P T E R . E I G H T**

"You wouldn't rather destroy a robot likeness of me?" Batman scowled a little.

"No."

His head cocked. "Why do you want us to have sex?"

"Because. I would like to experience it, as I haven't yet. And I feel that you're the best candidate."

"How romantic. Is this why you've been so kind and genial toward me?"

"I have seen that romance isn't a prerequisite for sex in this world and you yourself seem to take many lovers you are not interested in long-term commitments with. I will simply be another girl in your long list of girls, which is what you have made clear you want our relationship to remain as. And that is fine with me."

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "You can't honestly expect to come in here, insult me, and then have me take you to bed."

"A bed isn't required." she moved closer.

He stared her down. "No Diana. You're not going to insult me time and time again and then get what you want."

She froze and scowled "Fine. If you will not, I will find someone else."

He shook his head. "You do whatever you have to do. But you'll regret it."

"I see no reason why I would. It's not as though I have anyone else who's interested."

"You'll see it after it's too late. Trust me."

"I use to." she hit the teleporter button, reappearing back on the Watchtower.

He merely shook his head and stared at the spot where she had been standing.

--

Diana paced in her quarters, feeling foolish and angry. _Kal was right, I have lost my focus. I'm suppose to be a beacon of truth, peace and love. But lately I don't even know what the truth is, I don't feel at peace and I'm certainly not having any luck on the love front. I don't even know how I feel anymore, except frustrated and lonely. I miss the guidance of mother and my sisters. _

She sighed deeply. _I don't feel like I belong here anymore. And it doesn't seem like they need me. Isn't there a saying here about a third wheel? Or fourth wheel? I can't remember but I sure feel like that lately. I am who I am and they refuse to accept me as such, and I won't give up my ideals just to placate them. Amazons train. We spar. We fight. We are warriors born. Why is that so terrible? At least Luthor seems to accept me as I am. Hera, I have no idea where that came from. But is it so awful Diana? He's listened to what I've had to say without judgment and isn't intimidated by me as so many men are. He seems to see me as a person instead of simply Wonder Woman or an Amazon. _She brushed her fingers over her lasso idly. _More than I can say for certain other men who only see Wonder Woman and take her for granted. _Her eyes flickered as she uncovered the truths within herself slowly. _Is that what this is about Diana?Feeling taken for granted? _She considered that notion for a moment. _I suppose it is. I don't want praise or tribute, but why is everyone else allowed to have a life away from the League, except me? No one questions when Clark wants to go on a date with Lois or Bruce wants to date his flavor-of-the-week. Or how John and Shayera nearly live in each other's quarters. But if I try to expand my horizons it becomes a priority alert. _

* * *

She was thankful when Thursday rolled around and she found him at the booth. She didn't even waste time on greetings, just slid into the booth with the question "What's wrong with me?"

"I don't even know where to begin that" Luthor said with a smirk. "What are you basing that on?"

"I tried your direct approach."

"Batman didn't go for it?"

She should care that he'd figured it out on his own but he'd figured it out on his own and so it seemed fair. "No."

He shook his head. "And I thought he was intelligent."

Diana saw that he was already finished his food. She had hovered in her room until everyone was ensconced for the morning meeting and run late. "Let's walk this time."

He eyed her. "You want to go for a walk?"

"Yes. With you."

He slapped down some money and stood up. "Alright. Let's take a walk."

"It's your city and I understand you probably have some reservations about this. So you lead."

"I don't have any reservations... I'm merely confused is all."

They stepped out of the cafe and she looked to the left and then right. "Is there a park nearby?"

"Of course. Follow me" he said, leading her down road to the left. A few twists and turns and five minutes later, they arrived at the entrance of a large park. "Metropolis Gardens."

She moved in and found a bench a bit aways from the playground and sat down with a smile.

"This park has been here for twenty years, thanks to some donations from yours truly."

She glanced up at him and then back to the playground of laughing and yelling children. "It seems to be appreciated."

He looked around and sat down on the other end of the bench. "Again. I want Metropolis to be a city where people want to come to live."

"I would. It's peaceful here." she stared at the playground "There's no children on Themysicra."

"Do other Amazons know about children?"

"I think so. We just never talked about it. And I guess none desire them. Or make that public knowledge."

He nodded. "Even if the desire was there, it'd be difficult on an island with no men."

"Exactly. Why torture ourselves with what we can't have?"

"I should ask you the same thing about your relationship troubles."

"You and I both I suppose. I've spent hours in thought, even more in prayer, even used the lasso on myself. I don't know why I'm doing it. But, I think after the 'direct approach' failure...I think it's over and I can move on."

"I would say that's a safe estimate after four years. Although I do admire your tenacity."

She flushed a little. "Relationships are a new thing for me and I seem to have picked the wrong person to start with."

"Then perhaps you should try someone else."

"Maybe. People have been trying to pair me with Superman for years. He'd be even less inclined than Batman. Team dynamics, proper coworker ethics." She wasn't sure how much Luthor knew about Clark so she kept it generalized.

"He does seem a bit of the boy scout type doesn't he."

"Maybe there's something to be said for being 'married to one's work'." she gave a wry smile.

"There's married to one's work, and infatuated by one's work."

"I enjoy work. I like helping people. But I don't believe that we need to sacrifice our own every day lives to do that, like so many heroes do. We're still people."

He nodded "I agree. But once it's been established that you will help people, they'll keep coming back to you for help with everything."

Her eyes dropped to her gauntlets. "Believe me, I understand servitude better than you would probably believe. I still believe work has a place and life has a place. It's too short, too precious, to not experience each day as if it were your last. You've seen how fast the tides can change."

He nodded, sensing something deeper with her first comment but decided not to press. "Do you view me as a normal person?"

"Yes."

"I meant when the Justice League was hounding me. Did you think that I was a normal person and did normal things? Or that I was some raging monster?"

She smiled a little "I never viewed you as a 'raging monster', I believe that's Grundy's title and he'd probably defend it well. We're all briefed on who we're fighting. I read your files. I knew the work you'd done in, for, Metropolis. And the legitimate ventures of LexCorp. I suppose I viewed you as misguided and squandering your potential."

"You cannot get a true idea of a person by words on paper. Case in point, you had no idea about my daughter."

"Very true. And these meetings have only confirmed my belief that you're not inherently evil. You probably could have hurt or incapacitated me just as easily as I could have you."

"I could have tried, but I doubt it would've been as easily as you would have done it to me."

"But you haven't. You've been ever the gentleman and honest. I think that's worth something."

He bowed his head. "Don't let it get out. It might tarnish my good name" he said with a smirk.

"Of course." she nodded.

He leaned back against the bench and watched a few birds flying around the trees. "Sometimes I forget about nature."

"Life is complex enough. It's important to stop for the simple things sometimes."

"It's easy to forget sometimes when you're so involved with what you do."

"Yes. I'm still on suspension."

"Then I think it's time you got out and did something instead of moping in your room."

"Like what?" she looked over at him. "I met you for lunch."

"There's more we can do besides just having lunch. Coming here was an example. You mentioned hobbies last week. Perhaps we can find something that we could do and compare our progress week to week."

Diana sat quietly pondering all the things that met that criteria. Knitting? Sewing? Cooking? The Watchtower had a fairly advanced kitchen. She did enough of what might be considered 'hiking' or 'working out' during her job and training....

He glanced at his watch and swore silently. "I hate to cut this short, but I'm due in a board meeting in ten minutes. How about we continue this discussion over dinner tonight? Think of a few possible ideas to share there."

She nodded "When and where?"

"Meet me here tonight at 7:30 and we'll decide."

"Ok." she smiled and stood. "I'll see you then."

He stood as well. "Until then, my dear."


	9. Chapter 9

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG ] **

**C H A P T E R . N I N E**

Luthor sat in his bi-monthly board meeting in his own thoughts._ Strange. My initial intention was to pump her for information and try to instill some decension in the Justice League ranks. But could I feel less interested in that than..._ He dismissed the thought for the moment as the meeting continued on. After, he moved to his office and worked for a while, making his phone calls and business deals. He glanced at the clock at 7:04. He then stood, went to his mirror and changed ties, getting rid of the black simple tie for a lighter blue one he hardly wore. He then made his way to the park and sat down on the bench to wait.

* * *

Diana felt flickers of hope and excitement that she hadn't felt in a while. _Hera, I never thought I'd look forward to going on a date with Luthor. The Fates move in mysterious ways_. She spent a bit more time in the park watching the children before returning to the Watchtower. Most of the League was running missions and no one disturbed her. Her wardrobe was sorely slim but she did have a couple dresses that had been gifts from Princess Audrey. The black one would probably fit the bill for wherever they ate. She finished dressing in the form-fitting black dress and black heels and made her way through the halls, getting more than one look from occupants as she breezed past.

Flash whistled and ran into the monitoring womb "You should see Wondy." he told Batman.

"Why?" he asked, not looking up from the monitors.

"She's goin somewhere hot tonight and...total babe mode. But in that sophisticated babe...not the beach babe or cheerleader babe or..."

He lifted his head and turned quickly. "English Flash."

"She must have a date tonight. Go see for yourself. She's going to the teleporter."

He stood and made his way into the halls, moving toward the teleporters. He saw her climb on and stare at him... wearing a tight black dress and black heels that made his mouth water in spite of himself. "Diana?" he managed to ask before she disappeared.

She moved into the park carefully and saw him sitting on the bench. "Luthor."

He stood with wide eyes. "Wonder Woman. You look..."

"Diana." she smiled.

He shook his head briefly. "Diana. You look ravishing tonight."

"Thank you. You look wonderful yourself. Shall we?"

He nodded and moved over to her. "Indeed. So, what kind of meal are you thinking of?"

"Do you enjoy Greek food? I was thinking, you've shown me some of your past. I can't show you the real thing but at least it's somewhat close."

He cracked a smile. "Come. There's a lovely Greek restaurant not too far from here."

She smirked as they reached a restaurant called ' The Pantheon' and were quickly seated.

"The touristy name belies the quality of food. It's the best Greek food I've had that wasn't in Greece."

She nodded and placed her order while he ordered some wine. "You've been to Greece?"

He nodded. "Quite a few times back when I was married to my second... no, fourth wife."

"Did you enjoy it?"

"The scenery or the marriage?"

She smiled widely "I'll take either answer. Or both."

He smiled back as the wine arrived. He poured her a glass but put his finger on the rim as she lifted it. "It has to breathe for a few moments to enhance the flavor. To answer your questions, I enjoyed Greece very much. The architecture, the scenery, the people. The marriage, not so much. That was the one that lasted only 5 months."

She lowered the glass, staring at him intently "I'm trying to 'expand my horizons' so to speak. Experience the things this world has to offer. Marriage is still an interesting concept to me. It probably comes as no surprise that it doesn't exist where I come from. Women do engage in relationships of varying levels with other women but marriage..never."

"I don't believe marriage means what it used to" he said. "In the past, marriage was a partnership... a lifetime pledge. But now, it's almost seen as a chore."

"Maybe you just haven't met the right woman yet."

"Perhaps, but it's not the end of the world if I do or don't."

"I suppose not." She sipped her wine. "Did you see the Cecropia?"

His brow arched "Yes, I traveled through Athens. It would be a shame to see Greece and skip it's fairest city. And I did see the Acropolis."

"Pisistratus the tyrant established a precinct for Artemis there at one point. He also started the Panathenaic Festival."

"I seem to have missed that one." he said.

"It was believed to be the observance of Athena's birthday. The procession would assemble before dawn at the Dipylon Gate in the north. It would be led by the Canephorae, or 'Basket Bearer', an unmarried virgin woman selected from the aristocratic or Eupatrid families. Her purity and youth was believed essential to the sacrifice. She would carry a basket called a kanoun, containing offerings of barley or first fruits as well as a sacrificial knife and fillets to decorate the bull. The Canephorae are interesting outside of the procession but back to the festival... they would make their way on the Panathenaic Way through Agora and toward the Acropolis. Sacrifices would be made on theAreios Pagos or 'Hill of Ares' to the north-west of the Acropolis. In classic times the Areios acted as the high Court of Appeals and Ares himself was supposedly tried there by the Gods for the murder of Poseidon's son Alirrothios. Sacrifices were also given in front of the Temple of Athena Nike, next to the Propylaia. Only Athenian citizens were allowed to pass through the Propylaia and enter the Cecropia."

Luthor listened in rapt interest, impressed with her knowledge of the ancient city and also amused when she would often use the proper Greek or lesser used terms for the locations. She spoke intelligently and passionately, a dangerous mixture that grabbed his attention and held it. "I wasn't aware of much of that. I prefer to tour alone and find out what I can on my own." he smiled. "Please continue."

She smiled a little, having found she wasn't boring him to death and felt a bit touched that he would want to hear what she had to say about her home state. "The Temple of Athena Nike was protected on the north, west and south by a parapet that came to be reknown as the 'Nike Parapet', so named for a frieze of Nikai."

"The Goddess of victory." Luthor stated.

Diana nodded "Yes, or triumph. Going back to the Canephorae, Aristophane's Lysistrata gives the belief that being a Canephorae was the last in a list of religious duties that an unmarried Athenian girl might undertake. The first would be as an Arrephoroi, a maiden acolyte in the cult of Athena Polias. According to Pausanias, a second century Greek traveller and geographer, two Arrephoroi lived for twelve months on the Cecropia which concluded with the rite of Arrhephoria. The Arrhephoria was mostly known a feast where girls, or some say boys, between seven and twelve years old were the ministers. Though according to Pausanias the rite of Arrhephoria involved the girls traveling to an underground cavern and exchanging some sort of unknown object for another equally unknown object. The lexicon of Harpocration disagrees, stating that there were four Arrephoroi, not two, but that two surpervised the weaving of the Panathenaic peplos."

"Peplos?" Luthor questioned.

"It's a Greek garment worn by women before 500 BC. It's a piece of tubular cloth that is folded inside-out from the top until halfway so that what was once the top now lays at the waist. It is about ankle length. It's pinned at the shoulder and the inside-out tube top creates the appearance of a second-piece of clothing."

He nodded "What happens after being an Arrephoroi?"

"A girl would become an Aletris, a slave who grinds the meal for the Goddess Athena. And then an Arktos, or 'bear'. Lysias references a number of different activities an Arktos would perform at Brauron and other Attic sanctuaries of Artemis where they were connected with foundation myths about the killing of a bear in the Goddess' sanctuary. They would sing, dance, parade and race. All in the nude."

His brow arched further. "You Greeks do love to do that. I can't imagine many other heroines pulling off your costume."

Diana just shrugged. "We believe there is nothing shameful or embarrassing about the human form, as you do. It's a divine gift and so there is no need to hide it. We strive for perfection of it in honor of our Gods. I have no qualms about my body and my armor reflects this."

"I suppose with a body like yours, one wouldn't have shame. Not everyone is perfectly sculpted by the Gods." he mused.

She remained oblivious to the eye he was giving her or the insinuation of his words. "No but that doesn't make them any less divine or able to make the best of their own bodies. There's beauty in everyone."

They sampled various desserts as he said warmly "Your insights have been most enlightening this evening Diana."

"Most definitely. I've enjoyed our conversation immensely. I'm glad you found Greece as wonderful as I do."

"It's hard not to. It's quite a lovely country with a rich history." The waiter came and he paid for the bill, finishing off his wine. "I had a wonderful evening tonight, and now I must ask if you've given any thoughts to our possible hobbies."

"I've been doing some research. I couldn't come up with any that looked automatically enticing so I simply made a list of ones and I thought we could work our way through. We won't know we don't like something until we try it." she pulled out a handwritten piece of paper.

He nodded at her. "What did you come up with?"

"You mentioned models. I figured that would be as good a place as any to start. I also have fishing, hiking, bird watching, gardening and a few others." she handed him the list.

He took the list and looked it over. "I think models would be a good place to start, but we need them. Meet me in the park at noon tomorrow and we'll go model shopping."

She nodded and smiled. "Thank you for the dinner and companionship. It was lovely."

He took her hand and kissed it gallantly. "It was my pleasure, and the sentiment is quite mutual."

Diana was sure she flushed various shades of red as she smiled and then turned and made her way down the street. When she found an appropriate place where no one would see she hit her communicator "Wonder Woman to Watchtower, one to teleport."

Batman stood waiting for her at the teleporters. "Good date?"

She swallowed hard and held her head high "Yes, actually. It was lovely."

He glared at her. "Who received the pleasure of your company?"

"That's a bit personal, don't you think?" she asked, but without anger.

"In a way. But maybe it's because I'm just looking out for you."

She wished she'd opted for the less revealing red dress now because she couldn't see where he was looking with the lenses and felt rather exposed standing on the teleporter platform in only the sheer dress while he interrogated her about her date. "He was ever the gentleman."

"I would hope so" he said darkly, standing and moving away from her.

Diana exhaled and then steadied herself for her march to her quarters.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Thank you for the comments! Once again, we know this is a very dialogue heavy story but we feel it's important to let Wondy speak more than 'Great Hera' or 'Hera give me strength' and show her intelligence and the side of her that isn't just 'Wonder Woman' who hits things. :-D


	10. Chapter 10

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG for violence ] **

**C H A P T E R . TEN**

Back at his manor, Luthor changed and reclined in his bed. He hadn't felt the way he did tonight since he met his first wife... the one that he could have truly loved. _Do I have feelings for Wonder Woman?_ he asked himself the question that had come up more than once since his initial meeting with the Amazon in the cafe weeks ago. He didn't want to admit it but his interest had surpassed the professional curiosity he had told her he had. He'd put his desire to play her against Superman or the rest of the League aside because he enjoyed her company and listening to what she had to say. Their conversation about Greece and it's history tonight was a perfect example of what he had begun to find out – that there was a lot more to her than just the star-spangled panties and a strong right hook. She seemed to find him equally interesting, which admittedly stroked his ego.

* * *

"We're worried about your behavior." Superman told her as she sat, arms crossed across her chest.

The morning meeting had been called between Superman, Batman and her to discuss the issue of her behavior.

"You've been going out with increasing frequency."

Diana glared at Batman "And? You date _at least _once a week. Usually with someone new each time. At least I remain constant."

His lenses narrowed "We're not discussing me. Your dates are increasing in frequency and you refuse to talk about them or who you're seeing."

"My private life is private, just as yours is."

"Not when you're keeping secrets. Everyone here knows what I do and why." Batman countered in a low voice.

Clark watched the interchange and broke in "Diana, we just want to know what's going on. You've had a stalemate going on with Bruce for weeks. I catch you running simulations of the Justice Lords with the safeties off, purposely injuring yourself. J'onn told me he found you nearly unconscious once and the logs state that it wasn't the only time you ran that simulation and let it get that far. Now you're barely on the Watchtower and won't tell anyone where you're going. It's not like you."

Diana sighed "You're right, it's not. I've finally stopped allowing myself to be taken for granted and opted to have a life outside of this."

"A secret life." Batman interjected.

"How can you think we take you for granted?" Clark asked, slightly incredulous.

She scowled now "Please. No one asks why you want to stop being Superman and just be Clark Kent. And no one dares question when you want to be Bruce Wayne. I opt for a life outside of being Wonder Woman and I end up being disciplined and lectured for it. It's a ridiculous double standard that you men are perpetuating."

Clark and Bruce were both slightly taken aback at the sudden revert to male bashing. Before they could say anything, she stood and stated "Don't expect me to simply live in my quarters until a mission comes. I've found someone who can see who I truly am."

She left the room in a more foul mood than she'd entered.

She and Luthor continued to conduct their dates and meetings over the next month, slipping into a routine. On Monday they would shop for whichever hobby was chosen for that week. Then they had until Thursday to make some sort of headway on that hobby. On Thursday they would meet for lunch or often dinner with the victor choosing the location. During dinner they'd report back on the hobby as well as choose the hobby of the next week.

They started with models, which Diana found was not her forte when she accidentally crushed hers while trying to piece it together. Luthor chose to return to The Pantheon for another lecture in Greek history. Then it was fishing and Luthor provided her with an expensive pole and tackle. Diana was use to spear fishing on Themyscira with far less equipment and quickly secured that week's victory. She opted for lunch at a casual cafe. Smoking, she felt, almost killed her and even after rinsing her mouth out fourteen times, she still wasn't sure she felt clean. And she had a feeling Bruce had picked up some of the smoke on her clothes from the look he gave her when she returned to the Watchtower. Most of her anger towards him had been diffused and she just smiled a little as she walked by. Luthor, who had smoked at least a few cigars in his time, won and opted for a casual dinner from the various stands while walking the park. Bird watching was difficult but she found a few. Luthor, with a penthouse office, bested her there as well. This time they ate at his private dining area in LexCorp's headquarters.

Soon they had crossed all the items off their list, with a sway in victories on his side but Diana had enjoyed herself thoroughly anyway and found the competition aspect was only secondary.

* * *

Bruce had watched her for the past few months and noticed distinct change in her behavior. She was in less of a foul mood for the most part, but at the same time was much more secretive and withdrawn from the League. She rarely spoke to anyone, often running through the halls clutching a package and sealing herself in her quarters. Sometimes they would hear loud bangs and cries of frustration coming from her room. A few times she had come back and the hall around her room had a particular odor. One time it was cigar smoke and another time Bruce could've sworn he smelled the ocean.

He often tried to talk to her in the halls but was met with short, one-word responses and looks of boredom. Eventually he gave up on trying to talk to her and let her do her own thing. If she needed anyone in the League, she would find them. That didn't make it any less easy to essentially ignore her presence and not try to figure out what was going on. It was especially hard when she would be going out to a date or returning from it. She was always dressed so beautifully with her hair done up. None of the League had ever seen her like that and were a little shocked to see it the first time. They always saw her eyes sparkling when she returned, as if she had truly found honest romance.

* * *

They were meeting for dinner on what could be considered their two month 'anniversary' and she'd done a few extra jobs to earn money to buy a new dress for the occasion. The red offset her dark locks nicely and the sheer silk felt wonderful against her skin. She wasn't sure why she insisted on such vanity, but she was enjoying the way Luthor treated her as a woman before 'Wonder Woman' or 'Princess of the Amazons.'

She had largely undertaken this because that's how she felt and saw herself and worried that perhaps that's how others saw her as well. Perhaps that's how Clark and Bruce saw her, as the inexperienced and naieve woman who spent her life under a rock. _Or on one. _And had no sense of Man's World or it's customs.

But Lex just patiently ignored the areas where she might seem inexperienced, readily admitted his own flaws, and let her highlight the areas of her strength, such as allowing her two of their dinners to do nothing but talk about Greece. He'd commented her on the sly, she realized later, on more than one occasion as well and she was getting the distinct feeling that there was something growing between them.

And she didn't mind. Why shouldn't she feel something? Everyone else had petulantly decided to see her only as Wonder Woman and not as Diana _the_ woman. She had desires, feelings, needs. That had been shoved aside and she had been taken for granted as the secondary League muscle who was always available. Luthor was bad, but there was good as well. She had seen it first hand more times than she could remember now. He'd never tried anything the least bit untowardly, a little to her frustration as that was still an area of man's world she wanted to experience. Even more some nights after so much stimulating conversation and dare she believe...romance.

* * *

Bruce had brooded as he watched her go out that evening, in an even more revealing dress this time and her hair pulled back. His eyes narrowed as she walked by, completely ignoring him. _Time to see who all the fuss is for_.


	11. Chapter 11

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG adult themes ] **

**C H A P T E R . E L E V E N **

She smiled and made her way over to him by the fountain, causing various heads to jerk and turn she was sure they'd have whiplash. "Lex." somewhere around the one month mark they had opted to drop the little pretense they had left and simply call each other by their names.

"Diana. Just when I thought you couldn't be more beautiful, you show up like this."

She smiled, glad her venture to buy the dress had been successful. "It seems we've finished our list of hobbies, in your favor."

"I've had more practice with this world than you have. In time, I'm sure you'll be beating me at everything we attempt."

"It was a most enjoyable series of endeavors that I doubt I would ever have attempted had you not agreed."

"I can say the same. I don't think I ever would've attempted to build a model in my life."

"I doubt I would have either." she smiled. "I'm sure we can come up with a list of other new experiences..." she stared at him.

"Of course. I've already been creating one."

"Do tell." she carefully sat on the edge of the fountain.

He sat down beside her. "There's a myriad of different things we could try. I've always wanted to try painting or sculpting. I would think that you may have the edge in that."

"You've given me quite the tour of Metropolis, but I still have yet to see where you live. Your office doesn't count."

He smiled and nodded. "Very well. After dinner, we'll have dessert at my place."

"I believe it's your pick for dinner since I chose last time."

He nodded. "Indeed, but I think I've changed my plans."

"Oh?"

"I was planning on taking you out to dinner, but I think that since you want to see where I live, maybe we have dinner at my place tonight."

She smiled and stood "Your lead."

He stood and offered his hand, leading her back to his car and helping her inside. As they drove away, they were completely oblivious to the shadowy figure perched on the rooftop above them.

_It can't be possible_ the voice inside the cowled head said. He took off behind them, going from rooftop to rooftop while he pursued the car. The car pulled into the driveway of a manor that gave Wayne Manor a run for its money. _This must be where he lives. I can't believe Diana is going to Luthor's house_.

They stopped on the doorstep and Diana paused in curiosity as she stared up "Lex?"

Wordlessly, he leaned down and caught her in a slow kiss. Her eyes widened for a moment in surprise. She hadn't kissed anyone since Bruce and their sparing session and that hardly counted since it wasn't returned. This was warm, slow, tender even. She closed her eyes and responded in kind.

* * *

His eyes widened behind the lenses as he looked at the scene. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Diana... Wonder Woman... kissing Lex Luthor on the stoop of his mansion. He brought his fist down hard on the ledge of the roof he was perched on and turned away as the door opened. He headed back to a secluded spot to teleport to the Watchtower... to try to forget.

* * *

Diana stepped out of the mansion with a smile, brushing a lock of hair out of her face. The moon was up now and the air was cool and felt good against her flushed skin. She walked down the drive, listening to the sound of her own heels echoing in the secluded area. A few yards down she took to the air and flew until she was just inside the city limits, far enough away from the mansion.

Her heart was still racing as she called for a teleport and appeared back on the Watchtower. She stepped outside the teleporter room and nearly smacked into the kevlar chest.

"Look what the cat dragged back in."

Her brows drew together "Excuse me?"

"Back from your date?"

She nodded "Yes."

"How did it go after the kiss?"

Diana paled "What?"

He glared at her. He knew she couldn't see his eyes, but she could read his face. "I saw you two."

"You were following me? Why?" her eyes held hurt and anger.

"I was worried about you" he said truthfully. "We don't talk anymore and I wanted to see if you were doing alright."

She scowled slightly "You could have asked here. You followed me on a date that you had no right there."

"If I had asked, would you have told me?"

She paused "That I was finally finding some happiness again."

"Would you have told me it was with Lex Luthor?"

"I don't know."

"I don't think you would have. I had to know what was going on."

Her eyes narrowed again and she stiffened "Why? Because it wasn't you? It has nothing to do with you and you should've stayed out of it. You had a chance Bruce. I'm finally moving on and you have to try and tear it apart."

"It's not the fact that you're moving on. It's who you're moving on with."

"You don't know him."

"Don't I? I don't know Lex Luthor? The man who's tried to destroy Superman and the Justice League?"

"Not like I do."

"Apparently not" he said with a scowl.

"What does that mean?" she scowled back.

"What do you think it means?"

"I have no idea."

"Don't play innocent with me Diana. I saw you go into his house, and after that kiss..." he let it hang.

She couldn't believe what he was insinuating. Yes, she cared for Lex and found him attractive but she was an Amazon, raised with the highest respect for her purity. How low he thought of her when she still respected him. What a fool she was. She swallowed hard as her eyes grew wet "You're a real asshole Bruce. I'm a virgin."

"For now" he said lowly.

Before she could stop herself she lashed out, slapping him hard "Do not insult my honor!"

He stepped back from the force of the slap. "And how honorable is it to strike a teammate?"

"Now who's playing innocent. I'm warning you Bruce, stay out of my way. You've insulted me once already. Next time it won't just be a slap. Now get out of my way."

"I will not stand idly by and watch you consort with the enemy."

"You don't have a choice." Diana moved to brush him aside.

"You're spitting on what we believe in as the Justice League."

She snorted "Drop it."

"Tell that to the rest of the League. If you can."

"In the same way that you've told them about your many times 'consorting' with Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman? A known thief and liar? Or Talia Al Ghoul?" she glared.

"The world knows who you are, and the world knows who he is."

"You have a ridiculous double standard going. It must be nice." she growled through clenched teeth.

"You're one to talk. Why don't you go ask Clark how he feels about it."

"Because it's none of his business. Or yours. For some reason that I still don't understand, you two have been harping obsessively about this even before you knew it was Lex. Why don't you do something useful and go build a simulation like Flash has if you're so obsessed with me and what I do with my body."

He shook his head sadly. "You don't get it Diana. We care about you."

"If you cared, you would have respected my privacy and let me have my happiness that you wouldn't give me."

The remark struck him harder than the slap. "That's not fair Diana. I never wanted you to be unhappy."

"No? Doesn't seem that way from where I'm standing. You've attacked my honor more than once in this conversation and apparently believe I'm either naive or stupid or otherwise incapable of making a decent judgment call in matters of.." she trailed off, realizing where her statement was leading and giving away and glared instead.

"We're not your enemies Diana" he said softly. "We're not trying to ruin your life."

"Just...go." she sighed. "If you want to tell Kal, go ahead. I don't care anymore."

He shook his head. "You tell him. You look him in the eyes and tell him that you're seeing someone that's tried to kill him." He turned and walked toward the monitoring womb.

Diana sighed and collected herself, before moving towards the cafeteria where Clark was dining. "I think we should talk."

Bruce punched the wall lightly. "Damn it Diana." He paused and slammed his fist into the wall with full force. "Damn it Bruce... you coward."

Clark looked up from his tray. "Uhh... sure. Have a seat."

She sat down and stared at him, trying to figure out what to say.

He set down his fork and looked at her. "What's on your mind?"

"I've been seeing someone. Off the station." she started. "It wasn't intentional to have a relationship but it seems to have progressed into one."

"We gathered as much. How's it going?"

"Well. It's not Bruce but...it's nice."

He nodded and smiled slightly. "That's good Diana. It's been good seeing you happy lately."

"You may not feel that way in a moment." she took a deep breath. "It's Lex."

The smile ran from his face. "What?"

"I'm seeing Lex."

"Lex. Lex Luthor. You're seeing Lex Luthor."

She nodded. "Yes."

The color ran from his face. "Diana... why?"

"I care for him Kal. He's not evil. Believe me, I know what he's done. I remember the fights. But he has his pardon. I believe he's capable of goodness and he's shown me he can be. Don't we believe in second chances?" she stared at him.

"Not when it comes to attempting to kill me three times. Second chances, yes. Fourth chances are too much."

She sighed and looked down, pulling her hands back. "I didn't come here to ask you to accept my relationship. I just wanted you to know. This is important to me and I have to see this through. I respect you and I can see that this is going to cause conflict." she stopped for a moment, swallowed, then looked up at him "I formally resign from the League, affective immediately."

"You're an adult Diana. It's your life and your decision to make. Don't wait for me to accept it, but I respect your decision."

Diana nodded sadly and got up, leaving him in the cafeteria and moving to her room. She packed quickly, taking only her most cherish possessions. Then she exited the Watchtower for the last time, not looking back.

Clark remained seated in the cafeteria, pushing his tray away and staring sadly at her empty seat.


	12. Chapter 12

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG for violence ] **

**C H A P T E R . T W E L V E **

The mission alert sounded and the remaining six members of the League scrambled into the Javelin. "The Injustice Society again." J'onn stated.

"We're on our way." Shayera said as she took the helm.

A moment later J'onn's voice came back "That may not be necessary."

"What do you mean it may not be necessary?" Clark asked quickly.

J'onn linked them into the news feed that he was watching in the Monitoring Womb. On the video, Diana's easily recognizable red boots and star-spangled panties came into view as she calmly walked into the building. Copperhead leapt at her and she smashed her fist hard into him, grabbing him and whipping him around at Shade, plowing them both through a wall. She dodged a blast from the returned Star Sapphire and caught her with the lasso, yanking her in and around into Cheetah who was running up. She leapt and followed Cheetah, who was only stunned by the body blow from Star Sapphire. She traded a few blows with Diana before being grabbed and slammed into the ground.

Four of the five were down in a matter of moments as Diana moved, holding back little of herself. Grundy grabbed her back the neck and began slammed her face against through the columns and walls and into the floor.

"We can't leave her to face them all by herself. Especially Solomon" Clark said.

Grundy finally let go of Diana after slamming her into the floor one final time. He raised his foot to stomp on her but she grabbed it, yelling as she shoved him off and up, through the ceiling. She flew after him, landing punch after punch and knocking him back down through the floor and drove Grundy back on the defensive. The giant raised his arms to defend himself as the blows kept landing.

"Let's go" Clark ordered, rushing to the teleporters. By the time they had arrived, Diana had felled Grundy and tied the rest of the Injustice Society in her lasso.

Bruce looked at Clark. "I guess we're not needed."

Diana looked over and gave a nod "Batman. Superman."

Bruce stared right through her. Clark moved closer. "Diana. Are you injured?"

She nodded "Fine."

The police moved in and she recoiled her lasso on her hip as the cuffs replaced it.

"I guess we owe you a debt of thanks Diana" Clark said.

"Not necessary." she said civily and then moved past, walking by Bruce and out of the building.

"What was that?" John asked.

Shayera shrugged.

Bruce shook his head. "Glad I was able to be of help here."

"Better safe than sorry." Clark said and the team returned to the Javelin as Diana waved to the cheering crowd that had formed around the building.

They returned to the Javelin and continued with their normal routine. The next day, there was a minor riot in South America. They had stepped out of the Javelin just in time to see Diana shaking hands with the President for quelling the riot. She smirked at them as they returned to the plane.

About a week later, Grundy had once again escaped from prison. They geared up and arrived once again too late as Diana had wrangled him in her lasso and was waiting for the army to collect him.

Flash finally spoke up in the Javelin on the way back to the Watchtower "Ok, is anyone else getting tired of this?"

Bruce raised his hand. "I could be doing better things."

Shayera nodded "I know we're all on the same side, we should be happy that we didn't have to take on Grundy but still."

Clark just sighed "Yes, we should. If Diana can do it better and with less casualties or damage then that's a good thing."

"Maybe we _were_ holding her back" John said quietly.

No one else spoke as everyone contemplated on that idea and their feelings about the lone Amazon as the Javelin landed. Clark hung back with Bruce as the others filed out. "What do you really think Bruce?"

He shrugged. "Maybe John was right. We're not exactly the caliber fighters the Amazons are."

Clark eyed him "Do you really believe that? You've beaten her sparing before."

"She wasn't nearly using everything she had against me. We usually spar without powers or gadgets."

He nodded and stood, sensing that he wasn't going to get much out of the cowled crusader on the subject.

Bruce stood and went to the teleporters. "You know where I'll be if you need me. But don't need me."

Bruce went back to the Batcave. He hadn't want to talk to Clark about Diana's solo act but he had been investigating after their first run-in. He wasn't pleased with what he'd found out. John had had a point about holding her back. Diana was exceptionally strong and he often wondered how much she held back during missions. Now they were starting to see and she was opting for violence and excessive force as a first-resort and not a last. She'd broken half the bones in Copperhead's face with that blow. Star Sapphire had a concussion and various minor breaks. Cheetah had three broken vertibrae, a little more force and it would have snapped her spine in half. The injuries were far beyond most that even the entire League usually caused their enemies, wanting to minimize the damage done even to those perpetrating it.

_How long before she goes too far and crosses a line and someone gets killed? _He thought to himself. He didn't want to believe it would happen but some part of him had a feeling it wasn't the first time it would've happened either.

He pushed that concern out of his mind and began searching for information. _Is she working for Luthor? If so, why is he attacking his own former associates? It doesn't make sense. _

* * *

Diana made her way to LexCorp and tapped on the window when she saw that Luthor was alone.

He looked up at her with a smile. "Well well. Finally able to pull yourself away from work to come see me?"

She hovered and smiled. It had been a week since their date at the house, where she'd last seen him. "Slow day."

He motioned for her to come inside. "No sense in floating out there when it's comfortable in here."

"Floating is comfortable too." she smiled but came inside, taking a seat across from his desk.

He smiled at her. "So you and the League have been busy lately. I must say that the Injustice Society doesn't seem to be all they're cracked up to be."

Diana cocked a brow in surprise "You didn't hear?"

"Hear what?"

"I quit."

"You quit the Justice League?"

She nodded "Yes. I'm a free agent now. I've been working on my own all this week."

"You don't say. But where have you been staying?"

"Metro Motel."

He shook his head. "We can't have Wonder Woman living in a motel now can we."

"I've slept in a lot worse." she smiled. "But if you're offering..."

"I'm insisting" he said with a smile.

She nodded "They found out. About us."

"Is that why you quit?"

"Yes." she stared at him. "They refused to accept it."

He shook his head. "Because it's me. They only see me for who I am and you for who you are."

She sighed and nodded "They've done the same on so many occasions. I never said anything because it wasn't my place. I was content to simply be Wonder Woman. To live only for duty."

He put his arms around her. "Sometimes good isn't always good for everyone."

"I care for them but...you've shown me that sometimes good isn't always as good as it seems up front. There is a lot that is good about them, but they also staunchly refuse to see the bad that they do, that they're not perfect beings doing perfect acts out of a pure goodwill of heart."

"We're all bad Diana. It's just a matter of degree and willingness to accept it."

"I've always accepted it in myself. I've killed before, for less than noble reasons. I'm sure I will again. Perhaps why I never fit in there. I don't think I'm evil. I don't think you're evil either. Nothing is purely good. We all work towards the future we want, for ourselves and others. You had a dream once. Who are we to say it was wrong?" she stared out the window of his office and mused.


	13. Chapter 13

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG for violence ] **

**C H A P T E R . T H I R T E E N**

"If you're serious, there will be work for you here with me."

"I'm not asking to be number one or for you to change who you are, but I won't rob banks or kill indiscriminately."

He chuckled. "That won't be necessary. I'm actually working on an alternative fuel source that could eliminate our need for fossil fuels."

"Then you have my help. What can I do?"

"How's your scientific mind?"

She smirked "Adequate."

"Excellent. Then I can use an extra set of eyes on these charts."

She took the charts he handed her and began mulling through them slowly, taking a pencil off his desk and highlighting a few errors in the elements. A few minutes later she handed it back.

He looked at it and then back up at her. "I've been looking at this for weeks and haven't made a change. You did this in five minutes."

"I..didn't really do much chemistry with the League."

He picked up his phone. "Send Reynolds in here immediately." A few minutes later a squirrelly looking scientist entered the office. Luthor showed him the charts. "Well Reynolds? Will it work?"

He nodded excitedly. "I think so, sir. This is the break we've been looking for." He scurried off to the lab.

Lex stood and smiled at Diana. "You may not have done much there, but your help has already proven invaluable."

She smiled, feeling a little better about her break. "Anything else I can do?"

"Yes. Join me for lunch before we return to work."

"Ok." she stood up and followed him to a private dining area.

He held out her chair and sat down once she was seated. "After lunch, there's going to be a bit of traveling work to begin assembling some materials."

"I'll help where needed." she ordered a burger and salad.

"I know Diana. I don't doubt it" he said, ordering the same. They chatted casually while they ate and then returned to his office. He moved over to his desk and pulled out a list. "We need several samples of materials. Some are very easy to come by, and some are quite rare. But if your calculations are correct and we are able to get this working, we'll have no problem getting the funds we need for mining."

She looked over the list and then at him "Do you want me to get these?"

"If possible."

She nodded "I'll return in a bit."

He took her hand. "I shall wait with bated breath."

With a smile, she moved to his window and was pleased to find it opened. "Convenient. How large a sample are you looking for?"

"At least 100 pounds of each."

* * *

Clark walked up to Bruce in the cafeteria and sat down "Do you think we made the right choice?"

The lenses looked up at him. "Do you think she did?"

"I don't know. The idea of them together bothers me as much as it does you. But I can't help but think of some of the things she said."

"No. But that we were being unfair, hypocritical even. I've made some bad decisions in my personal life. Let's not even get started on yours." he smiled a little "Why do we hold her to such a different standard? I tried to tell myself that I was looking out for her but I can be honest...I'm not sure that's all it was for me."

"Maybe we were wrong Clark, but I don't think we're being unfair to her. She's a warrior at heart and she doesn't understand some human emotions."

"Didn't we punish her for that too? I suspended her simulation privileges when I found out she had created a Justice Lords simulation."

"I don't blame you. She may see it as a noble idea, but I see it as transference of anger."

"I don't know Bruce. This team is like a second family and I don't take losing a member lightly. I know it was her choice in the end but some part of it still feels like maybe we were wrong. We all have other lives we can lead when we need a break but she didn't. I can't say I agree with the one she found but she still gave us her all, didn't she? Isn't that what matters in the end? There's also the other problem we have to think about now."

"In the end, that's what matter. What's the other problem?"

"What if she goes back to him?"

"I think we can rule out 'what if' Clark. I'm almost positive she went to him immediately. I think we just cross our fingers and hope he doesn't turn her. If he does, then we may have a serious problem."

Clark just sighed and sunk into thought.

* * *

The first stop for Diana was the LexCorp laboratory. Luthor had phoned down and alerted them that she would be coming. They supplied her with proper sterile barrels for the samples. Even empty, the barrels were solid and took three to four people and a dolly to move. She picked one up easily with one hand, as though it weighed nothing. She grabbed one in each hand and headed off. Through her missions with the Justice League, she had traveled the world many times and knew were each of the samples were located.

Filling the first two barrels was easy enough and she returned them to the lab within two hours and picked up two more empty barrels. The next samples were further out and it took her four hours to procure enough samples and she nearly lost the samples when the rocks shifted and a landslide of boulders almost crushed the barrels. She worked without break. Two barrels in, two barrels out. The list of samples was long but she had worked through two thirds by morning and the lab phoned Luthor upstairs to deliver their progress report.

"We're nearly done collecting all the samples, Mr. Luthor." the lab manager said.

"Excellent. Keep me updated." He hung up the phone. _She's proving to be more than just a pretty face_ he thought.

Diana grabbed the last two barrels and headed north to procure the last samples. She was glad that she wasn't affected by extreme temperatures, even in her uniform. Her skin froze and icicles formed on her hair and lasso as she pushed far north. She was glad for her flight powers when she almost fell into more than one chasm. The barrels were filled and she returned to the lab, giving the workers something to stare at as she returned more frozen than not.

Luthor was waiting in the lab for her return. He began to applaud. "My dear, you are indeed a wonder."

She brushed the ice off as best she could, shaking out her lasso and hair. "I hope it helped."

"Only time will tell" he said, holding out his arm to her. "Let's get you warmed up."

She took his arm with her own ice cold one.

He sucked in a breath. "And we should do it in a hurry before I freeze as well."

"I don't feel it." she smirked.

"Immune to cold as well as disease are you?"

"For the most part, yes. It takes more than most normal conditions to slow me down." ''

"So nowhere on this planet is what I gather."

She smirked "Pretty much."

He nodded. "Good to know." He led her back to his office. "I have a shower in there you can use if you'd like."

"Thank you." she nodded and moved inside the bathroom, stripping quickly and stepping into a warm spray. The ice began to melt away quickly and she scrubbed off the layer of dust and dirt beneath it.

He heard the shower turn off and moved over to the door. "Do you need a towel?"

She looked around "I suppose so, yes."

The door opened and he strolled in holding a towel out to her. "Here you are my dear."

She took it and began drying her hair, unconcerned with modesty.

"So lovely and so strong. You are the perfect creation."

She stared at him in the mirror, touched by the compliment "Thank you."

He smiled and nodded. "And thank you for all your help. If the lab comes back with positive results, we'll have our alternative fuel source."


	14. Chapter 14

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG ] **

**C H A P T E R . F O U R T E E N **

Luthor hadn't taken no for an answer after he found that she had been staying in a motel during her freelance week. If she were going to work for LexCorp and be his equal, she would live at his mansion just outside of Metropolis and look the part. So the first stop upon her redressing had been an all-expense paid shopping trip to the finest stores Metropolis had to offer. Luthor had turned her over to the stylist he had, on occasion and on the sly, used. During his more legal days of course.

It had been the first time she'd had a 'personal style assistant' and she resisted the urge to smack him when he'd come in and do some 'personal adjustments', squeezing her into dresses she was sure weren't meant for her anatomy. Jean Paul would either nod and put them over a nearby chair or click his teeth and shake his head.

As he ran out, Luthor caught his attention. "Be careful Jean Paul. She packs a punch."

Skirts, pants, suit sets in various colors, dresses and to Diana's discomfort and the scowl of other women in the store – various undergarment sets, each ornate and beautiful were purchased. She'd never adjusted to wearing some of the customary pieces of women here. On Themyscira, she had worn simple tunics, armors and war-paints.

They returned to Luthor's mansion which would be her new home and she was thankful when he settled her into a guest bedroom down the hall from his own as she wasn't quite ready to take _that_ step yet.

"I hope this is satisfactory for the time being. You have closet space here, a dresser here, and a desk." Luthor said.

It was easily three times the size of her quarters on board the Watchtower and far more luxurious, with a sizable platform bed and dark wood furniture. "More than, thank you."

She took her suitcase and placed it on the bed, opening it and taking out her few personal possessions. Mostly things she had brought from Themyscira such as her sacred oils and paints, prayer candles, a couple Amazonian weapons.

"Please let me know if there's anything else you require or desire." He turned to head out. "Oh... I nearly forgot to mention. Dinner's at 6:30 this evening. I hope you'll be joining me."

She nodded "I won't miss it. Thank you Lex." she gave him a soft smile.

He moved into his study and sighed as he sat down in the leather, wing-backed chair. He lit a cigar and began to ponder the change his life had taken. Diana had left the Justice League and come to him. Now in his employ, she helped to solve the problem of the alternative fuel source as well as collect the materials. In less than 10 hours, she had finished what took him and his team months to attempt. He felt drawn to her in more ways than that... he remembered her beauty from the bathroom and wondered how good it would feel with her in his bed for the first time. He was so deep in his thoughts he didn't hear her enter the study.

She smiled as she caught him obviously deep in thought. "Penny for your thoughts."

He started in his chair and looked over at her. "Diana. I didn't hear you come in. I was just thinking about earlier."

"Earlier?"

"In the lab. How impressed I was with your skills."

"Oh." she was a little stunned, completely unused to being appreciated, least of all for skills like that. "Thank you."

"Thank you my dear. You're going to do a lot of good in the world."

She smiled warmly "I didn't mean to disturb you. I ran out of things to do in my room."

He smiled. "Please. Sit."

She moved into the other chair and sat down.

He sighed and looked over at her. "Do you feel comfortable in the room?"

"Yes, very. Thank you. It's beautiful."

"More beautiful now that you're in it."

Her lips quirked "If you continue, I may get use to you spoiling me."

"We'll have to wait and see what time brings us." He glanced at his watch. "It's nearly time for dinner. Join me?"

With a nod they moved into the dining area. After all the work earlier she was famished and pleased to find quite a feast prepared for them.

He held out her chair and sat down across the table from her. "Dig in" he told her.

She did, though with some manner of grace. Her mother had raised her well enough. After the meal and all the work, she felt sleepy and excused herself to her room for an early night.

* * *

On board the Watchtower, J'onn grimaced and turned to Superman who was nearby. "Luthor is continuing work on the secret project. And his progress has sped up exponentially in the past hours."

Bruce looked over at Clark. "I think it's safe to say that Diana's back with him."

"Yes." he sighed. "I'll look into it."

"Keep us informed." Bruce turned to J'onn. "Any idea of what his project is?"

"No. He keeps his work secret but it looks to be large."

The eyes beneath the lenses narrowed. "Any indication of what he's using for materials?"

J'onn shook his head.

"Then we're going to have to do some investigating."

The Martian worked feverishly during his shift, along with Clark and Bruce. "I believe they're working from this building." a map pulled up. "Not from inside LexCorp. We should start our search there."

Clark nodded as he stared at the map. "Any idea of security forces?"

"I would imagine he has armed guards."

Clark looked over at Bruce. "We're going to need stealth."

Bruce nodded. "Leave that to me."

"Green Lantern and Hawkgirl are on a mission on another planet. Flash will have to monitor from here. We three will investigate. It will be easier to remain hidden with a smaller group." J'onn said as they moved to the Javelin.

* * *

Luthor was discussing the day's plans when she stiffened and cocked her head.

He glanced over. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Tired." her voice was light and amused but she put a finger to her lips and moved over to the wall, listening hard. She followed the sound a few steps and then punched through the wall, grabbing Batman on the other side and yanking him into the lab.

Batman looked up at her from the floor. "Oh sure. You go after me but not Superman."

Diana sighed and stared down at Batman with her hands on her hips.

He glanced at Diana and then over to Lex, making his way to his feet. "Well, as long as I'm here, I don't suppose you'd tell me what your project is."

"Doubtful." she said.

He shrugged. "Can't blame a guy for trying."

She eyed him carefully, placing herself in between Batman and Luthor.

"Relax Diana. I'm not here to cause trouble."

"Is that why you were sneaking around outside?"

"You weren't supposed to hear me. I was just gathering information."

"My hearing is as good as Superman's."

"I was actually hoping you wouldn't be here. Now you've just confirmed out suspicions."

"And those are?"

"That you're involved in this project, whatever it is."

"I would have told you that honestly if you'd asked."

He looked at her. "I'll have to keep that in mind."

Diana kept an eye on him but shifted on her feet. She could hear others but they weren't coming out yet. "Are you the infantry?" she asked. "Seems the cavalry is hanging back."

"This isn't an assault mission. Only intel. I came in just in case something like this happened. We can't risk losing someone like Superman."

"Are you ok?" she asked Luthor over her shoulder, not taking her eyes off Batman.

"I'm fine my dear. Just surprised that the walls aren't built sturdier."

"They're built fine." she smirked a little and moved to the door, stepping outside and looking around for Superman or any of the others.

Bruce sighed and pulled his communicator. "Batman to Superman and Martian Manhunter. Return to Watchtower. Mission is aborted. I'll hopefully rejoin you soon."

She turned back and walked past him. "You're not a prisoner. You came. I'm sure you know the way out."

"Aren't I a prisoner Diana?"

"I'm not going to fight with you. We're working." she stared at him and then turned back to what they had been doing. When he didn't immediately move, she moved up to him until they were face to face and said lowly "Go."

"Spoil sport" he said lowly, turning and exiting the gap in the wall, teleporting to the Watchtower.


	15. Chapter 15

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG ] **

**C H A P T E R . F I F T E E N **

"That was fast." Clark said in surprise when Bruce returned.

"She's got better hearing than you. I expected it."

"What happened?" J'onn asked.

"She pulled me through a wall, took a defensive stance between myself and Luthor, told me that she's working on the project, and then just let me go."

"Well...not so bad then." Clark offered.

"Could've been a lot worse" Bruce said, taking a seat. "On an interesting note, she said that she would've told me what the project was if I would've just asked. Oddly enough, I believed her."

"She's still Diana. I sensed a lot of turmoil within her." J'onn said.

Bruce looked at Clark and then back at J'onn. "J'onn, why don't you ask her?"

"You think he'd have any more luck?" Clark arched a brow.

"Why not? She has no issues with J'onn."

J'onn and Clark looked at one another and then nodded "I will keep you updated." he moved to the Javelin bay.

* * *

With the samples needing to be temperature controlled and the large Batman-shaped hole preventing that, they had to move to the warehouse next door and re-set up the lab. Diana was making quick work for flying the large computers and lab machinery to it's new destination and getting it re hooked up there as Luthor supervised.

He looked over as Diana entered with a large piece of equipment. "Set that down here if you would please my dear." He turned to his crew. "Alright. Get these samples in the containment unit and make sure that everything is back online. We need this test run within the hour."

Diana set the large mainframe down and moved over to talk to the Engineers.

Lex turned and began to plug wires into the mainframe. The control panel flashed to life. "Excellent. It appears that everything is still online."

"They'll be back." she warned.

"I have no doubt of that. But we have nothing to hide."

She nodded and went back to work. A while later she moved outside to take in some sun when a figure came up from the ground in front of her. "J'onn." she nodded.

"Hello Diana. Please forgive my intrusion."

"I knew you'd return."

He simply nodded. "It is good to be predictable."

She leaned against the outside wall "What do you want to know?"

"I have come to see what your project is. I have no qualms with anyone here. I just need to know if we have any reason to be on our guard."

"No. I wouldn't be involved if it were, or were illegal. It's an alternative fuel source, a hybrid of Earth and alien chemicals."

The Martian's eyes flashed briefly. "Thank you Diana."

She nodded.

He took a step back. "We miss you you know" he said.

"I know. I didn't hurt Batman yanking him through the wall did I?"

He shook his head. "Only his pride, which was actually a good thing for us."

"That's good." she nodded and headed inside.

"All of us miss you. Not one exception" he said, phasing back into the ground.

She sighed as she moved back inside, then pushed all her feelings away and went back to work with the Engineers.

J'onn docked the Javelin at the Watchtower and made his way back to the monitoring womb.

"How'd it go?" Clark turned.

"I now know their mission purpose. They're devising an alternative fuel source using a combination of alien and Earthen technology."

"That's it? Are you sure?"

"I have no doubt that Diana was telling me the truth."

Clark grimaced and looked over at Bruce.

Bruce shrugged. "So maybe we were wrong."

"Yeah. About a lot of things." he sighed and walked out of the monitoring womb.

* * *

Diana sat on top of the warehouse. Luthor had left to attend to other business, telling her he'd return later. She'd worked with the engineers, and then the scientists. Now she'd run out of work for the moment.

She felt the building rumble underneath her and she dashed back inside. The scientists were scrambling to open windows and turn on fume hoods.

They all looked at her as she stared with a gaped expression. "The samples weren't the proper temperature" one of them said to her. "The explosion caught the manganese supply we had and destroyed it all. Without a fresh supply, we're at a standstill."

"That was the hardest one to get." she growled in frustration.

"We're sorry. We didn't think it would be that unstable."

She sighed. "Give me another two barrels."

The quickly sterilized two more barrels and wheeled them over to her. She took them and flew off towards the area she had collected the samples the first time.

Luthor returned several minutes later, looking around at the smoke. "What happened here? Where's Diana?"

The scientists debated and offered one of themselves as the sacrificial lamb. "Sir, we had a minor explosion. The samples weren't at the proper temperature, and the resulting blast took out our stock of manganese. Diana went to collect more."

Luthor sighed angrily. "Dammit. This is going to set us back days. When she returns, make sure the samples are contained properly."

The scientists nodded "Of course."

"Get back to work then. Clear this area of the smoke and stabilize everything."

They scurried back to work and he turned back, heading toward his headquarters at LexCorp, busying himself with more paperwork and trying to figure out why the samples went wrong.

A little over an hour later his phone rang.

"It's the lab. We've stabilized the new samples and sent Diana to the medical bay."

He stood up. "Medical bay? What the hell happened?"

"She had injures to her hands and head."

He slammed the phone down and rushed to the medical bay, sliding the door open as the medic looked back in surprise. "What happened?"

Diana looked up from where the medic had just finished splinting and wrapping both hands. Another was working on stitching the nasty gash she had from over one eye down to nearly her earlobe. The medic stuttered and she took pity on him "I took most of the readily available samples on my first trip. When I had to replace them, I had to dig deeper into the mountain and the mountain fought back."

He sat down beside her and kissed her forehead. "Diana... I'm so sorry."

"It's ok. The cut will probably be healed by morning and the hands should only take a couple days." she glanced at the x rays of her crushed bones.

He shook his head. "No... this shouldn't have happened. If we'd have contained the samples better." His eyes glazed over. "If it wasn't for that blasted Batman."

The medic finished on her hands. "We can give her something for the pain." he looked at Luthor.

"Don't look at me" he growled. "Talk to her."

Diana shook her head "I don't feel any pain."

The medic's brow raised "Really?"

She shrugged and the other medic stitching huffed a little "Sit still or I'll get this need in your eye."

"Great Gaia, you're terrible at this anyway." she huffed a little. "Did my samples survive?"

He nodded. "They did and are stabilized."

"Good. I wasn't sure."

He leaned forward and kissed her gently. "Not to worry my dear."

She kissed back. "Back to the grind."

"Not until you're healed. You just relax for a few days."

"I can still help. My hands are mostly out of commission but I can still read or look over formulas..."

He nodded. "That's fine. But nothing too strenuous until you're 100%."

She nodded and moved out of the medical bay. As it turned out, there wasn't much else to do. The computers had been assembled earlier, the samples were contained and being slowly tested. If she'd had more dexterous use of her fingers she may have been able to help on that end but as it stood now she was just going to risk breaking all the glass instruments. She gave up lingering around after fifteen minutes and headed back to Luthor's house. She ran herself a bath using her wrists, elbow and even knees to get the tub filled. Her hands were casted and she wrapped them carefully in cling wrap before she sank into the tub and sighed happily.

Back at the lab, Luthor made sure that the samples were at the proper temperature. "Alright. Test time. We're going to get it right this time"


	16. Chapter 16

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG-14 for mild sexuality ] **

**C H A P T E R . S I X T E E N **

They loaded a sample into the centrifuge and prepped it, then moved it to the chamber. They added the final chemical and waited for the reaction. There was a small puff of smoke as the chemicals mixed and the attached light bulb lit up brilliantly, amidst waves of cheers and applause. "We did it" Lex said with a smile, rushing out and getting into his car.

He pulled into his driveway and ran into the manor as he headed upstairs. "Diana?" he called out.

"In the bath!" she heard him calling and called back.

He moved to the bathroom door and cracked it open. "Can I come in? I have news."

"Of course. Come in."

He opened the door and his smile was wide. "We did it Diana."

She shot up from the bath "Really?"

"Absolutely. It worked like a charm."

Her grin was equally wide and she leapt over to him, hugging him as best she could "That's great!"

He hugged her back and kissed her deeply. "We did it... all thanks to you. This is going to change the world."

"Amazing." she moved back to the tub and stepped back inside.

He sat down on the edge of the tub and smiled wide at her, breathing deeply. "We did it Diana, and I couldn't have done it without you."

She looked over at him "I told you I would help you."

"I never doubted it for a moment. But I just didn't think you would go to the lengths that you did" he said, gesturing to her hands.

The water began to get cold and she snagged the plug with her foot, pulling it out and clasping the towel between her wraps.

He looked at her and took the towel. "Allow me" he said. "I never realized how deep and blue your eyes were."

She smiled and flushed as he slowly moved the towel over her body. The sensation was lovely and the towel was so soft and warm. Her eyes shut as a breath escaped her.

He looked up at her and moved the towel down between her legs, beginning to pat dry. She glanced down when he continued on longer than she felt was necessary. His lips moved up and found her shoulder, kissing gently. Her eyes widened.

"Lex, what are you doing?"

"Expressing my appreciation to you for all your hard work." He moved the towel around to her bottom and patted her dry slowly

_Is this what I really want? This soon? _She stepped back and grabbed a robe, all of a sudden very conscious of her own nudity. "Lex... I can't. Not right now. I want to, but it's just not the right time."

He looked at her briefly before lowering his head. "Of course my dear. I'm sorry." He turned and exited the bathroom.

* * *

Back in the Watchtower, Bruce sat hunched over the monitors. Quiet nights usually meant a boring night for him, but tonight was different. He had the entire world on his mind it seemed. Recalling his encounter with her earlier, he was shocked by the changes that Diana had went through. He knew that she cared, or had cared, for him, but never thought she would turn this way.

Perhaps he and Clark had been wrong about Luthor, but he still felt that she was wrong as well. Pulling him through the wall at the lab was pure evidence of that in his mind. He firmly believed that if Luthor had ordered her to, she would have killed him.

J'onn came in and looked at him "I sensed something amiss with Diana."

Bruce looked up. "Amiss how?"

"I do not know. Just a strong feeling."

Bruce sat, torn between his anger and his emotions. "Is she in danger?"

"No, I don't believe so. I sensed fear and pain but it's gone now."

_Diana feeling fear and pain?_ "So long as she's alright" Bruce said.

He nodded.

* * *

Diana stretched out as she flew. It was just as well she had put a stop to their intimate moment as Luthor had been called into the office to deal with more progress on their invention a few minutes later. A streak of red and blue nearly missing plowing into her in the air made her stop.


	17. Chapter 17

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG ] **

**C H A P T E R . S E V E N T E E N **

He reeled back and hovered in the air as she came to a stop and mouthed something to her. She stopped the music she'd been listening to.

"That was close. Are you alright Diana?" Clark said again.

"Yes, thanks."

He nodded. "Good. What are the chances of that happening."

"I suppose it's a smaller city up here." she mused.

"In a way, I suppose you're right." He took a good look at her, focusing on her hands and scar on her forehead. "What in the world happened to you?"

"There was an explosion in the lab. Some of my samples were lost and I had to replace them."

His eyes narrowed. "Are you alright?"

"It's not permanent."

He nodded. "I'm glad you're alright. So, how's the project going?"

"Good." She wouldn't give away their progress without Luthor's permission. She had helped but it was his money and his project. "It's going to change the world."

He nodded as he continued to hover. "From what J'onn heard from you, it certainly will. Congratulations."

She nodded "Thanks. Where are you headed?"

"I just got off my shift and I was heading back to my apartment."

She cocked her head "Ah. Ok. I'll see you around then I'm sure. Sorry for the near-miss. Haven't spent much time flying with entertainment."

"From that statement, I take it you're busy?"

"Not really, no. I don't want to keep you if you have somewhere to be. Le...Luthor got called into work."

"Nowhere important actually" he said. "If you're not busy, how about we go somewhere and catch up, maybe grab a coffee? We may not be teammates anymore but you're still my friend."

She studied him for a moment and nodded "I was heading to the skyscraper over there." she gestured.

"Mind if I tag along for a few minutes?"

"No." she moved over to her target and landed on the top gently, sitting on the edge.

He flew up and sat down next to her. "So how's life?"

"I can't complain too much. You?"

"The same really. Things have been going on. League is continuing as normal basically."

"That's good to hear."

"We miss you."

"So J'onn said too." she stared down. "It's better this way."

"Are you happy?"

She stared at him "I don't know."

He stared at her with a confused look. "You don't know?"

"Yes. I don't know if I am or not. I care deeply for him. I enjoy being part of his team and using skills I'd forgotten I had. I feel we're making the kind of changes we just didn't do in the League. But it's been so long since I've been truly happy, I think I've forgotten what it feels like."

His head dropped. "I never knew we were responsible for killing your happiness" he said sadly, moving off the ledge and hovering in front of her.

"I didn't say you were. I don't know if you were. I suppose if I were to be honest I'd say it was less you and more Batman but what does it matter now? The past is the past."

"Because he's a part of us. What one League member does, it's like the rest do as well."

She shrugged "My mistake."

"No Diana. It was our mistake" he said, turning and flying off back to the Watchtower instead now.

J'onn picked up Clark's muddled and frustrated thoughts easily, even without scanning. "Are you alright Superman?"

He started and looked around, then realized it was J'onn. "Yes J'onn. Just had a run-in with Diana. Literally."

J'onn nodded "I sensed it."

"It didn't go well."

"How so?"

"I asked her if she was happy, and she told me she wasn't sure. Apparently she hasn't been truly happy since she came here, and we're to blame."

The Martian's brow arched slightly "I can sense pain in her but she masks it will, even when I was close to her."

"She's hurting and it's because of us. She blamed Batman, but we're all to blame."

"Perhaps. We shouldn't jump to any conclusions. There's many reasons she could be hurting. If Batman is at the center than there's little we can do."

"Batman is one of us J'onn. We can't shift everything to him."

"Not everything but relationship issues are personal."

"I know J'onn. I guess we just have to wait and see if anything more comes to light."

"Perhaps you should speak with Batman about this."

"I think that's going to be the plan. But after I get some rest. I can't deal with him unless I'm functioning at 100%."

J'onn nodded.

* * *

The project had exploded, thankfully metaphorically this time and not literally. Luthor had barely been home in three days as he took up the business side of their alternative fuel source. She'd seemingly ended up on the wayside in the process. She had stopped by LexCorp but all he'd only hastily told her that various inspectors, scientists and government officials were scheduled to come to a test opening in the hopes of approval and increased funding before she was shut out.

She floated through the air, zipping between buildings and up around the spyres as the music blasted in her ears. She hoped Lex's meetings were going well. After that, they should know within a day or two and then there would be the meeting with the government and soon after that, the press conference. She'd never been a part of something this large and it was slightly intimidating to her. She wasn't sure why Lex had chosen her to do the press conference but she hoped she did them all justice.

* * *

"I still fail to see where that's an issue, except that you're an idiot." Clark said as Bruce expounded on his reasons he wouldn't date Diana and why she had left.

The cowled face began to contort with rage, but he held his cool. "She deserves someone that will be there. I'm here and patrolling Gotham all night. I don't have a social life and could never give her the attention she deserves."

"Bruce, we've worked with her for four years. If there's anything I've seen it's that she doesn't require much upkeep. I still consider her a friend but if I didn't have Lois, lord knows I would have pursued her."

"I wanted you to."

"So you'd have a convenient excuse not to. Sorry, already taken."

"What exactly did she blame me for Clark?"

"I told her that I hadn't realized that the League was responsible for killing her happiness. She said it was less us and more your doing. It was half-hearted at best. She said it didn't matter and that it was in the past."

The blow struck him hard. He sat in silence for nearly two minutes. "She said that?" He put his hands to his head and shook it. "Clark, answer me honestly. Do you want her back?"

"Of course."

Bruce nodded and stood, slamming his hand down on the table. When he pulled it back, his communicator lay there. "Then I'll make it easy to get her back. I quit."

Clark sighed. "That's not going to work. She isn't staying because you won't resign."

"We don't know it. But it's not just because of her. I'm leaving before I kill someone else's happiness."

"I highly doubt that's going to happen. The only other woman is spoken for and the rest of us don't swing that way. You'd be better off trying to talk to her but if you want to walk off as well, that's fine."

"You need her Clark. You don't need me. The only thing I provide to this damn League is a headquarters and funding."

"That's a lie and you know it."

"Is it a lie?"

"Yes. Why don't we all quit and run away because of this. None of us are needed. All of our solo accomplishments are small, afterall. It's when you add up all those accomplishments and we work together that the larger things get done. It's your choice Bruce. I don't want to take your resignation but I know you're going to do what you're going to do. At this point I think you're being ridiculous. You could just go talk to her but instead, you're quitting."

"You're god damned right I am. She won't talk to me. The last time we met, she pulled me through a wall. What's to stop her from doing worse?"

"One, because this time you won't be sneaking up on her and her...whatever. And two, she's injured at the moment anyway."

"She's what?"

"There was an accident at the lab and she had to replace some materials. Her hands were crushed in the process."

He thought back to the materials he had seen when it hit him. "They have to be temperature controlled" he said softly. "That's why it was cold in there. When she yanked me through the wall, it contaminated their field."

"She probably didn't realize it then."

"I didn't either. We both do now though."

"She couldn't grab you even if she wanted to. You're mostly safe."

"She could've died" he said to himself mainly, heading toward the transporters.


	18. Chapter 18

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG ] **

**C H A P T E R . E I G H T E E N **

Diana lost herself in thought and the music blaring in her headphones as she sat, curled over her knee and shut her eyes.

He knew she was in Metropolis somewhere. He could sense it. He moved from rooftop to rooftop until he spotted her, landing softly beside her as he noticed her headphones. She took no notice of him, tapping her foot to the music. He took a breath and pulled the ear bud out of her right ear, sending her into the air and twirling in a defensive stance.

"Relax. It's just me."

She exhaled deeply and landed back down on the building.

"Sorry about that" he said softly as she came back down.

"It's ok. I just don't expect many people to be up here. Especially ones that can't fly."

He nodded and sat down. "I know. But I wanted to come talk to you."

"I can't really say anything more about the project right now. Nothing bad, but it's at a crucial point. There'll hopefully be a public statement coming soon."

"It's not about the project."

"Oh." She sat down on one of the jutting protrusions of the building. "Then what?"

"It's about us. Did you really mean what you said to Clark about me?"

"Yes."

_It wasn't half-hearted Clark_. He nodded slowly. "I thought so. Clark tried to tell me that it was half-hearted at best, but I didn't believe it."

She shrugged and said in a soft voice "Do I look angry about it to you?"

"You shouldn't be. You should never be angry about the truth."

"I told him what I'll tell you, it's in the past."

"That doesn't matter to me Diana. It might be in the past, but that doesn't make me feel any better about it."

She looked over at him as the wind teased her hair. "We all made our choices."

"I never knew that I had that affect on you. That I ruined your life and crushed your happiness."

"You didn't ruin my life. As for my happiness," she shrugged again "You're not responsible for my heart."

"I think in this case I am."

"It was my choice to pursue you for so long. You made it fairly clear from the start. I could've accepted that but I guess hindsight is everything. I was new to this and naive."

He sighed sadly. "I didn't want it to happen this way."

"It's not that bad."

"It is for me. When someone tells you that a person you care about blames their lack of happiness on you, it's that bad."

"The past is the past Batman. Neither you nor I can go back and change that. I wouldn't have even mentioned it if I knew it was going to hurt you this badly. And I'm sorry I did."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I brought it on myself with my actions and my stupidity."

She moved closer to retrieve her discarded ipod. "You're not stupid. It was just an unfortunate situation for all involved."

"Tell me the truth Diana. Do you hate me for it?"

She stared into his lenses and answered "No. Never."

He sighed and stood, facing out over the edge of the roof. "I'm sorry about the lab accident."

She looked down at her hands. They had healed almost entirely. Her casts were gone and she just needed another day or so to regain full complex movement of her fingers. "You know I heal fast. We lost some work but we're up to date now."

"Healing fast aside, it should never have happened, and I'm to blame."

"It was likely inevitable. We didn't realize the extent the materials needed to be cooled. Even without you, we were being less than cautious at that point."

"Regardless." He sighed and turned to face her. "It seems the only time I'm involved in your life it turns out bad."

"What do you want me to say?" she stared at him. "That's the life we lead. We get hurt. We heal. We get hurt again. If it isn't you, it's someone else or myself. It wasn't a mortal wound. It was an annoyance. It's really not worth this much thought or guilt. And anyway, it had little to do with you or your involvement in the explosion. I could probably have been more careful recollecting the samples."

"I'm hanging it up. Retiring." he said evenly.

"Why?"

"There's nothing left for me anymore. You're gone, Clark won't say it but I know he resents me, and I'm sure the rest of the League does as well for you leaving."

"I'm still here. I'm just working with someone else now. If you ever seriously needed me, I'd do my best to help."

"Would you ever consider returning?"

"I don't know. So much has happened. And I have my relationship with Lex to keep me here."

He nodded sadly. "I told Clark that you would return if I wasn't there. Was I right?"

"No. I'd probably be even less inclined."

"That's not what it felt like when you left."

"That feels like an eternity ago. I've made some peace with a lot of things since then."

"I don't have peace anymore Diana. Every day since you've been gone is like a new and fresh hell for me."

"I'm sorry." She truly was but she wasn't sure what else to say.

"Don't be Diana. I'm the one that's sorry. For the Luthor thing, for stalking you, for ruining your happiness, for the last four years. For whatever it's worth."

She reached out her hand to him "Don't retire because of me. The world still needs both of us."

"They don't need me anymore Diana."

She dropped her hand and sighed. "Yes they do."

He shook his head. "I don't think they do. You look at the individual accomplishments of every League member, and all of you have huge things you've done by yourselves. I don't. What would have happened on those missions if I hadn't been there? Nothing would've changed."

She scowled a little at the pity party he was throwing and hit him in the shoulder. Not particularly hard and he barely budged from the impact though she winced as her hand protested.

He sighed and moved over, taking her hand in his. "Why did you do that?"

"You deserved it."

He looked at her and dropped her hand. "I seem to deserve a lot."

"That I would agree with, but probably not in the way you mean. If you want to quit, I guess that's your business. I'm not giving up yet, just because you wouldn't date me in the past. Life goes on."

"You're very quick to dismiss things Diana. That's what separates us. I'm not as strong as you. You're a warrior. I'm not. Sometimes I dwell on the past and can't easily move beyond it."

"And that's a large catalyst for me leaving than anything you did or said. It seemed like it that, when it happened. But now that I've had time to reflect, I think it was inevitable as well. For what that's worth."

"That doesn't help Diana. You continuing to say that it was inevitable or that it was in the past doesn't make it easier."

"I don't know what else to say that would help. I'm doing the best I can and being honest."

"I am too."

"I didn't belong up there." she glanced at the sky and then down towards the ground. "And I don't really belong there but we're working on that little by little."

"I'm glad to hear that Diana. I really am."


	19. Chapter 19

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG ] **

**C H A P T E R . N I NE T E E N **

He sat down as well. "So... here we are again."

"Yeah." she mused.

"Didn't think we'd be looking out over a city together anytime soon."

"Me neither. How did you get up here anyway?"

"Grappling hooks."

She grunted. "Well you scared me half to death."

"I didn't mean to. Maybe I still have some of the old touch left in me."

"Don't get cocky on me." she gave a faint smile. "I've been trying out music and I still haven't gotten use to it. Clark almost plowed into me, you almost give me a heart-attack."

"Maybe we're out to get you."

"It's not paranoia if it's true."

"So I've heard."

"I'm sure you all anticipated that I'd be floating around with an ipod."

"Tracking device in your ipod. Steve Jobs is a close friend of mine."

"Who?"

"The owner of the company that makes your ipod."

"Oh." she looked down at it. "I just figured out how to work it."

"I could help if you'd like."

"You have one?"

He nodded. "Sometimes in the Batmobile at night I like to play some music."

"What does Batman listen to?"

"Depends on my mood. At night, usually some smooth jazz. Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, things like that. Other times, classical music, and other times classic rock."

"No idea who those are." she smirked a little.

"You'll have to check them out. It's very soothing."

"I never took you for a soothing music person."

"Something has to calm me down."

"Sure. I just thought that would be...well...metal."

He chuckled. "A lot of people would think that, and sometimes I do enjoy metal. But I also enjoy being able to understand the lyrics. What does Wonder Woman listen to?"

"Earlier...Steppenwolf. When you snuck up...well, let's just say I was staying alive."

He rolled his eyes. "You listen to the Beegees?"

"Yes. I like that song." she held her ipod out to him. "I also had Hot Stuff on earlier."

He took it and scrolled through it shaking his head with a smile at some of the songs. "A very eclectic mix."

"It's not all terrible. I validate my awful picks by including good ones like The Boss and Bob Segar."

"I'll give you that. Try some of the jazz. I think you might enjoy it. If not, I'll get you on some classic rock. So what do you not understand about your ipod?"

"It's fine once it works but it's rather...unpleasant about connecting to my laptop."

"Define unpleasant."

"Most times nothing happens."

"Well, if you're not busy, you can get your laptop and we'll take a look at it."

"Ok. If you're not needed elsewhere."

"No. I'm technically retired."

She nodded "I'll be back in a few minutes then. You can enjoy my awful playlist until then." she smirked and took off.

Diana flew back to her room at Luthor's and went through the open window, grabbing her laptop and cable and then flew back to Bruce. "Had enough chuckles at my expense?" she set the laptop down.

"Actually I was enjoying some Eurythmics."

"Good. Say what you will but me and Mr. Gaye have had some good times together."

He looked at her sideways. "I think we'll leave that one alone for the time being. Alright. Show me what it's doing."

"Spoil sport." she opened up her laptop and connected her ipod with little happening.

He stared at it, playing with the cable. "Hmm. This may take a bit." He pulled out a flashlight and examined the cable. "The cable seems fine, as does the computer." He looked at the ipod. "Ahh. Here's your problem."

"Hmm?" she leaned closer.

"Did you drop this recently?"

She flushed a little "Just once."

"From how high up?"

The flush deepened. "A few stories lower than this."

"I'm surprised it's still playing" he said, putting the flashlight into his mouth and pulling out a few tiny screwdrivers.

"It was a bit wet up in the clouds."

He leaned toward her and grunted for her to take the flashlight. She did. "You need to get one of those cases that attached to your arm for when you fly. Hold the light here."

She held the light steady. "I suppose so."

He went back to the ipod, popping something inside it. "Got it." He handed it to her. "Try it now."

She plugged it in again and smiled when it worked. "Nice. Thanks."

He put the tools and flashlight away. "No problem. Just be careful from now on with it."

"I will, spoil sport. What do you have against Marvin?"

"Nothing against Marvin. I like his music. It's just I didn't want to say something bad about your comment."

"And what would you say?" she was grinning hard.

"Give me your line again."

"Say what you will but me and Mr. Gaye have had some good times together."

"I'd have liked to seen the end result of those good times."

"Wow." she smirked. "Flying is better than the kind of healing he had in mind but it adds to the mood."

"I'll only begin to imagine the freedom."

"Do you trust me?"

He looked at her and nodded. "Of course."

She moved over to him and pulled him close to her, slowly rising off the building.


	20. Chapter 20

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG ] **

**C H A P T E R . T W E N T Y **

"How good is your grip?"

"I'm not going to drop you." she smirked.

She gave him one earphone and put the other in her ear and loaded up a song, holding him tightly as they rose up from the building.

"What're we listening to on our flight?"

"Bob Segar for now." she reclined so that they were floating horizontally, with her on the bottom. She kept the movements slow for now. "Doing alright so far?"

"I'm still here. This really is free feeling."

Very gently, she rolled them while they moved, giving him time to adjust to the weightlessness.

He relaxed in her grip. "That was a little unexpected."

She smiled "Sorry."

"It's alright. Just a little warning next time would be appreciated."

Diana chuckled. "Ok, then I'm speeding up."

"Noted. Go for it."

She pushed them a bit faster through the air, making slow dips and twirls.

"How long did it take you to get used to this?"

"I always liked speed. I think if I could pick my powers I'd like Flash's. But it took me a while to get good at maintaining it."

"It's a lot different than being in a plane."

"You lose a lot in a plane. It's still nice, but it's not as free."

"That it definitely isn't. Everything looks different."

"How fast does the Batplane go?" she smiled up at him.

"I've clocked it at 4,400 miles per hour top speed."

"Impressive."

"Not as impressive as this."

"And we're still moving slow."

"Slow?"

"Very slow."

"Impressive."

"I'm going to speed up. Let me know if you want to slow down." she smiled.

"Just listen for my scream."

The song changed and she smirked, speeding up abruptly as the wind whipped by them and she pushed them furiously through the clouds and whipped around a skyscraper. She barrel rolled them hard as she flew, feeling the pull like a strong rollercoaster.

"You really like that move don't you."

She grinned and her eyes sparkled. "Yep."

I think we might need some more mellow music. You seem to fly with the music."

She laughed. "That's very true actually. So far I've managed about a Mach 3 at my best."

"Mach 3?"

"Mmhmm. But it's hard for me to keep that speed very long."

"I wouldn't think you would need to."

"Not usually no. It becomes hard even for me to control at that speed. But for long stretches it's fun."

"You're making me wish that I could fly."

She slowed them down "No doing this with Clark or J'onn."

"You think that I would fly with someone else?"

"Or J'onn morphed as me."

"That's just creepy."

"Whatever."

He scrolled through and turned on the techno mix of 'Magic Carpet Ride.'

Her grin widened and they jolted hard as she took him on a mach speed tour of Metropolis, barreling them around buildings, plummeting towards the ground and then arching back up into the clouds, twirling and taking off again. They touched back down on the ground in a secluded area as the song ended.

"Good timing" he said as he handed her her laptop.

She took and slung the bag over her shoulder. "That's one of my favorites. Think about what I said?"

He nodded. "I will. I guess I just need a little time off. Thanks for the flight."

She nodded and gave him a final hug before taking off again. He hugged her back and sighed as he watched her fly away.

Clark was slightly surprised to see him back on the Watchtower. "I wasn't sure you were coming back."

"I may have overreacted, but I still am going to take a little time off."

He nodded "How did it go?"

"It went well. I fixed her ipod and got a free flight."

Clark blinked dumbfound "What?"

Bruce nodded with a small smirk. "Yep. She was grateful that I fixed her ipod so she took me for a flight around Metropolis."

Clark whistled and smirked.

"I never knew how free it felt to fly like that."

Shayera walked in and looked at the pair "What'd I interrupt?"

"Nothing Shayera. Bruce was just talking about going flying. With Diana."

"Really?" Shayera's brows arched.

"Yep."

They were both grinning now.

Bruce looked confused. "Why is that such a big deal?

"You wanna handle this? I'm going to go scrub the coffee maker." Shayera took off in a hurry.

Clark chuckled and turned back to Bruce. "It's a bit of an 'in' for us flying folk. Flying with someone, in a non crisis way, is considered the pinnacle of intimacy."

Bruce's eyes widened.

"Tell me it wasn't better than sex." Clark challenged.

Bruce raised his hand to counter and then put it back down. "It was pretty amazing."

"Exactly. I've only taken Lois out once really and she wasn't sure about it."

"I didn't know it was that special to have someone fly you... I just thought she was being friendly."

"It is. It's usually such a private activity that we do on our own and then we open it up to the other person. To take someone with you, especially someone who can't fly themselves, you hold their life in your hands and it means they trust you enough to allow it."

Bruce fell into the chair and shook his head, trying to find his words.

"Keep that in mind." Clark gave a final nod and left him to his thoughts.

He stared straight ahead. _I didn't think there was anything intimate behind it. Yes, she was smiling and having fun, but I thought it was because she was freaking me out a little bit. I do trust her, and I don't know if she really knew it before tonight_.


	21. Chapter 21

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG ] **

**C H A P T E R . T W E N T Y - O N E **

Diana's mind was still racing from the unexpected turn with Bruce. She'd avoided calling him that, trying not to get too friendly but that flight sure was more than friendly. _And I think I enjoyed it a little too much. Diana, what are you doing? He's not even your team mate anymore. And what about Lex? _She sighed inwardly. She had no clue what she was doing but taking him flying was something she'd always dreamed of and with him threatening to retire, she'd felt like it might be her last chance. If he actually meant what he said, she'd probably never see him again. _Goddess it was good too. _

She sighed and dragged herself into a cold shower, dressed in one of the suits Lex had bought and flew to the lab to check the progress and landed a bit outside, opting for the discreet approach. Nothing like a bit of work to take her mind off things. Inside, Luthor was giving orders to his team, walking them through the drill for the inspector who would be here soon. She walked up to him as he finished.

He turned to her. "Perfect timing my dear. We're just putting the finishing touches on our test run."

Diana nodded. "Good. I'm working on my speech in my head."

He nodded, gesturing to a chair. "Take a seat Diana. The inspector will be here any moment."

They went through one more dry run when they heard a car arrive outside. "That would be him" Luthor said, moving to the door. "Mr. Rodgers, welcome. Please come in."

Diana stood and waited for the two men to move over to her.

Lex guided him to her. "This is my trusted associate Diana, without whose help this project would still be months away from completion."

Diana reached out and shook his hand with a nod. "Thank you for coming."

"A pleasure Diana" he replied, then turned back to Lex. "Alright Luthor. You have many people very interested in this experiment of yours."

He bowed his head slightly. "Of course. Please have a seat and we'll begin."

Diana offered him the chair she had just vacated and stood to the side. Various Engineers and Scientists moved around in front of them, nodding to each other. The lights were powered down, save for the machines. A scientist loaded the new synthesized fuel while Diana explained the process. A second later the lights began coming back on even brighter than before, powered by their new fuel.

The inspector's eyes went wide as he stood and moved over to the chamber. "This is incredible. And you did it with materials found on Earth?"

Diana moved over to the inspector and held up a small canister for him to inspect. "It's a mixture of Earthen and alien compounds, extensively tested to be harmless and safe for humans."

He took it and marveled at it. "This is incredible. You will get your funding. The world must know about this."

She smiled "Thank you. With the go ahead we'll be able to start producing quantities to serve everyone who would want it."

"I think the world will want it. We'll be in touch" he said, shaking her and Lex's hand firmly.

She gave a nod and smiled to Lex "We'll be holding a Press Conference tomorrow to unveil this to the public."

The inspector nodded and left.

* * *

Alone in the Batcave, Bruce continued to ponder the events of the previous day. He still couldn't get over the freedom he felt as Diana flew him through the sky and wondered if maybe there wasn't a little more to it like Clark had said.

Alfred came into the Batcave. "Master Bruce, I think there's something on the news that might interest you."

Bruce looked back with a confused stare. "Thank you Alfred" he said, switching on the news just in time to see the beginning of the LexCorp press conference announcing the status of their new project. He saw Diana in the background and watched intently.

* * *

Diana looked out over the crowd and swallowed. She and Luthor had spent a large chunk of the previous evening working out the last kinks in her speech, polishing and deciding on her attire, which was a form-fitting grey suit and practicing. She felt confident as she stepped up to the podium and began speaking.

_She looks amazing_ Bruce thought as he listened to her speech.

She spoke of the dawn of energy and the creation of the lightbulb and the progress since and segwayed into a bit of information on their new fuel before stepping back for the live demonstration which went flawlessly. She could hear the gasps and whispers of pleasure and continued her speech "This new fuel will not only be more cost effective for the consumer, it will help protect our vitally important environment. Our fuel requires far less raw or valuable materials to create and produces none of the harmful pollutants of traditional fuels."

He heard his communicator go off and grabbed it. "Batman here."

"Bruce, it's Clark. Turn on channel..."

"I know Clark. I'm watching it. It looks like they actually were making a fuel alternative."

Diana continued on "Our scientists estimate that our global footprint will be dramatically reduced within two years of switching to our fuel and it will dramatically slow global warming."

Having finished her speech she relaxed a bit "I'll take questions now." she looked at the Press pit.

The hands fired up. The first one she chose stood. "How long before this will be made available to the public?"

"We're hoping to be able to offer it to consumers by July of this year." she nodded and gestured to another.

"You're saying there's absolutely no side affects?"

"We've had our best Scientists and Engineers working on this 24 hours a day. We have tested it rigorously and would not offer it to the public if it were dangerous."

The murmuring continued. Another reporter stood up. "And this will be more affordable to more people?"

She nodded "Yes. Because it requires less materials, the cost to manufacture it is far lower. This in turn benefits the consumer. The current gas price in this country is almost two dollars a gallon. Our fuel will cost half that. Consumers will save thousands of dollars a year by switching."

"She's good." Clark said on the other end of the phone.

"You aren't kidding" Bruce said. "She's even convincing me to switch."

Another reporter stood up. "What about the cost of converting cars to run on this fuel?"

"Our team is working hard with the automotive industry to make switching as comfortable as possible. Because we understand the current economic crisis and consumer's concerns, we're please to offer discounts to those who make the switch in the first six months."

A round of applause began and slowly built to a thunderous ovation.

Diana smiled and posed a few moments for the cameras, dragging Luthor out for them as well and then giving a nod to the reporters and disappearing with him. Away from the public she hugged him tightly "We did it."

He pulled her close and kissed her. "We did it. We're going to be rich Diana."

"I'm going to sleep for a week straight when this is all done."

"You deserve it my dear. You did an amazing job. Come on. The Press Conference will keep them busy for a day or two. We need to celebrate."

She arched a brow but allowed him to pull her out of the building.


	22. Chapter 22

**The Enemy of My Enemy**

**By: **Rachyzord

**[ Rated PG-14 for adult themes and violence ] **

**C H A P T E R . T W E N T Y - T W O **

He led her to the car and got in next to her, starting the engine and heading for his manor. He was smiling and complimenting her the entire trip, and Diana couldn't get enough of it. Upon their arrival, he dismissed all the staff and pulled out a bottle of champagne. He filled to glasses and handed her one, clinking it with his. "To success" he said with a grin.

They talked and laughed and planned during the course of the next two bottles. At the end of the second, Lex turned to her and requested she get another one. She moved to the liquor cabinet and turned around to find herself face to face with him. He gripped her arms firmly and stared at her.

"Lex, what are you doing?"

"I must have you Diana. Right now. To show you how grateful I am for your help."

Her eyes widened. She had never seen this side of him, and she wasn't sure that she particularly liked it. She shook from his grasp and backed up a step.

"That's not a good idea Lex. We should keep this professional."

He advanced on her and grabbed her again, his grip even stronger. "I wasn't giving you a choice."

He moved in but she swung her free hand hard, connecting the champagne bottle solidly with the side of his head. He staggered back and came for her again. She stepped into a massive kick, driving him through the wall of his den and into the dining room. She moved over to investigate when he started to get up. Her eyes widened again and she kicked him back down again, bursting from the manor and taking to the sky. She headed for an abandoned field and grabbed her communicator. "Wonder Woman to Watchtower. One for transport immediately!"

* * *

Bruce had teleported to the Watchtower after the press conference. He was still reeling from the information given to him. Was it entirely possible? He thought it was, and with Diana as the face of it, LexCorp was bound to take the world by storm with it's alternative fuel source. He reclined in the cafeteria, nursing his coffee.

* * *

Clark set the cup of hot coffee down on the conference room table and then sat down opposite her. "What happened?"

Diana took the cup gratefully and sipped it, holding it between her hands as she hunched over her knees in the chair. "I don't quite know. One minute we were at the Press Conference for the fuel. Did you see it?" she asked quietly and looked up.

He nodded.

"Ah, ok." she looked back at her cup "Lex said we should celebrate and so we went home. He dismissed his staff and we started planning and drinking. Then he...followed me to get another bottle of champagne."

"You mean he..."

Diana sighed hard and stared into her cup for a moment until it snapped, spilling it's contents all over and she jumped, surprised by the action.

"Diana, are you alright? He didn't hurt you did he?" Clark reached out and put his hand over hers.

"He didn't injure me, I doubt he could. To answer your question, he tried. That's why I came here." she shook the liquid off her hand and let the pieces of the crushed cup fall to the ground.

Clark began to shake. "That son of a bitch."

"I need to go for a walk." Diana stood. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

She didn't wait for him to reply, still too jumpy from what happened and didn't happen. It was the first time she'd even had a close call like that in her life.

Clark gave her a nod. As soon as she was out the door, he moved back into the cafeteria and found Bruce. "We have a serious problem."

"I'll say we do. You're interrupting my coffee."

Clark bent over the table and knocked the coffee cup away "I just teleported Diana aboard. We were right about Luthor."

"Diana's here? What the hell do you mean we were right about Luthor?"

"He took her home after the release and assaulted her, or tried." Clark said with anger.

Bruce stared a burning hole through Clark. "He what?"

"He tried to get her drunk and rape her."

He stood up. "Where is she?"

Clark looked up at him. "She needed a walk. Probably to one of the viewing windows."

"No one does anything until you hear from me" he growled, moving out of the cafeteria.

Diana stopped at one of the large viewing windows and stared out it. Almost by feeling alone she sensed him. She turned and looked at him for a second and then back out the window. "Bruce."

"Are you alright?"

"I suppose so. It was a close call and nothing more."

He stayed where he was. "It was more than that. You trusted him and he tried to..."

Diana looked down at her torn blouse and bare feet and then stiffened, letting her warrior's pride conceal her pain "But he didn't."

He moved forward and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close to his chest. She tensed for a moment and then allowed him, wrapping her own arms around him and holding him tightly. Now that he was close he could feel the small tremors of her body.

"You're safe Diana. And he won't get away with it."

She nodded against his chest, inhaling his comforting scent.

"Come with me. I'm taking you to the manor." He led her toward the teleporter. He touched the com. "Superman and Flash, meet me at Wayne Manor in five minutes. Bring the Javelin."

Diana let him teleport them to the Manor and settle her in a bedroom. Her nerves were finally calming down and the adrenaline tapered off and now she just wanted to rest for a while.

"You'll be safe here Diana. Alfred is here if you need anything. I'll be back soon." Bruce said quietly. Then he was gone.

He went downstairs and passed Alfred. "Diana's upstairs and needs rest Alfred. Please don't let her leave until I return." He exited the manor as the Javelin touched down in the rear. He climbed aboard and looked at Clark. "We're going to Luthor's."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Clark looked over at him as he piloted.

Bruce stared back with a gaze that could've melted a steel door. "There are times to mess with me Clark. This is not one of them. Fly."

"I think I'm missing something." Flash said, looking between the two.

"Luthor tried to rape Diana" Bruce said, not taking his eyes off Clark. "We're going to pay him a little visit."

Clark flew the Javelin to Luthor's mansion against his better judgment. Bruce was concealing his anger well and he had no idea what the other man intended to do. But if he didn't take Bruce and provide some limits and supervision, Bruce would just go on his own without anyone there to make sure he didn't kill Luthor in a rage.

They touched down and got out, standing in front of Luthor's manor. Bruce turned to Flash. "You're here in case he tries to escape." He turned to Clark. "You're here to stop me. But use your discretion, when you think it's been enough, give me five more minutes."

The Man of Steel grimaced a little and crossed his arms over his chest. Flash narrowed his eyes, feeling the rage within himself as well as he moved to keep an eye on the house.

Bruce walked to the door. "Clark, get the door."

Clark hesitated but put his shoulder through the door. Bruce walked by him into the manor. "Luthor! Get out here now!"

Luthor strode out, still wearing the suit from the press release. "Well well...can't say that I'm surprised."

Bruce walked towards him. "You made a very big mistake." Before Luthor could open his mouth, Bruce connected a right hook, sending him stumbling back as his nose began to gush blood. Luthor touched his nose and stood up straight with a grin, coming forward towards Batman. He caught the next punch and squeezed Batman's fist in his own until it began to make popping sounds.

Bruce's eyes narrowed. Luthor didn't have the power to do this. He reached down and grabbed a batarang, raking it down across Luthor's face.

Angrily, Luthor tossed him aside "I had hoped to transfer myself into the Amazon host before this, but it seems my plans have changed."

"Who the hell are you?" Batman asked.

Clark stepped forward. "Brainiac."


End file.
